Accel World - Volume 4 - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Night.

A huge pale disc shone brightly in the black sky.

The ground, the buildings, everything was a white stripped of color. It wasn’t colorlessness, but the color of dry bone. Square houses casted distinct shadows over the wide road. Over there, the Shinjuku sub-center, which had changed into a spiral-formed chalk spire, rose so high it seemed to pierce the sky.

“…The «Moonlight» stage, huh.”

Takumu—Cyan Pile murmured that after looking around at this virtual world’s Western Tokyo.

Haruyuki also quickly listed the features of this stage that he remembered.

“It’s bright, but you can see almost nothing within the shadows. Sound carries over a far distance. There are few Enemies. Trap-type terrain effects also don’t exist…”

“In open spaces, unexpected attacks from hiding places are almost impossible. Using the school campus was a correct choice after all.”

After nodding to each other, they glanced behind them.

In this empty white space whose was basis the living room of the Arita home, the vivid emerald and shining «Lime Bell» stood silently as well beneath the moonlight.

There was no change in her outward appearance since they had seen her on Tuesday. However, by doing an enormous number of duels over only two days and winning completely in all of them, she had already reached the same Level 4 as Haruyuki and Takumu.

Though, because there had been an interminably long time since they had become Level 4, there was probably a wide difference in total point acquisition between the two of them who would soon reach Level 5 and Chiyuri, but her potential at least must be equivalent to theirs.

While catching up that close to them in a short period of time, Chiyuri who served as Noumi’s healer/bait had surely been exposed to all kinds of attacks from countless Burst Linkers. Haruyuki also understood just how painful those harsh, difficult experiences must have been.

However, Chiyuri stood right in front of the two of them with movements that didn’t betray her fatigue at all, and she spoke only a short sentence.

“Let’s go.”

And then, without hesitating, she jumped down from the high terrace that corresponded to the 23rd floor of the original apartment building. She descended from slightly lower terraces and decorated scaffolds to the ground. There was not a fragment of newbie awkwardness in her movements either.

Haruyuki and Takumu looked at each other once again, and after reflexively smiling bitterly, they also jumped down in the same way.

The three of them avoided the main road they usually used when commuting to school, and instead went by back roads at a half-run. While paying attention to their surroundings, Haruyuki and Takumu destroyed suitable objects and filled up their special technique gauges.

They didn’t go straight into the school, but first came out onto the roof of the family restaurant on the other side of Oume Street, and confirmed the status of the dual location from behind cover.

Umesato Middle School had changed into a form like a European palace from the Middle Ages. In what could be described as Gothic-style, huge pillars were placed in a row in the front, and many statues of angels or demons protruded out from the surface of the walls.

After concentrating his eyes to see that there were no other duel avatars there and confirming that everything there was made of stone, Haruyuki looked at the schoolyard once again.

The large grounds had become a garden intricately covered with small tiles. There were no objects there at all, and only a spear-like tower that stood at the southern end—originally the support pole of a ball fence had a long and thin shadow that stretched over the ground.

“…There doesn’t seem to be anyone hidden there.”

Haruyuki murmured that, and Takumu nodded.

“Yeah…But, Noumi isn’t there either…His Dive should only have been delayed by half a second…”

“If he doesn’t come after five minutes, let’s temporarily retreat away from Koenji Station…No, wait.”

At that moment, a very faint wind noise reached Haruyuki’s ears. Since the stage was completely still, something must be moving the air. A flying-type Enemy—or, a flying-type avatar.

As Haruyuki quickly looked up to the sky in the southwest, his whole body hardened the instant he looked.

A silhouette was approaching in the night sky filled with small twinkling stars while being palely illuminated by the moonlight.

A thin body. Claws on his hands. And devilish wings extending out on his back.

“Nou…mi…”

As Haruyuki groaned that name out unconsciously, the avatar started descending as if being pulled by his voice. He folded his arms, drew a graceful spiral through the air and alighted down in the center of the schoolyard.

His landing was almost silent. Just by seeing that manner and posture, Haruyuki could tell that Noumi had already completely mastered the operation of flight ability.

This avatar with the attribute of «robbing» slowly folded his wings and stopped moving there.

Once again, complete silence filled the world.

Haruyuki’s sense couldn’t grasp any changes either. No movements of stealthy approach, no footsteps creeping in at a blind spot, nothing.

After waiting more than a full minute, Haruyuki whispered.

“…Let’s go.”

After Takumu nodded next to him, they rose at the same time and jumped down to the road. Hearing their footsteps, Dusk Taker quickly turned his face towards them.

While he gazed right at them, Haruyuki and the others entered the grounds of Umesato Middle School through the gate, and then went around the end of the school building and headed towards the schoolyard.

The footsteps of the three of them make a hard sound on the tiles. The moonlight clearly etched their shadows into the ground.

Chiyuri did not go into the schoolyard, but instead walked along the southern wall of the school building and then stood quietly within its shadow. Haruyuki and Takumu headed straight towards the center of the wide space.

Stopping about 20 meters away from Dusk Taker who was standing in the center, Haruyuki threw a silent look at him.

After taking that look for a few seconds, Noumi unfolded his arms in front of his chest and lightly spread them out left and right.

“…Just like I said you could extend the time as many times as you wished, I’m definitely the only one here!”

The boy’s voice, which was tinged with a metallic effect, resounded lightly through the pale world.

“I didn’t think you would prolong it so long, senpai! Is that being cautious, or distrustful, I wonder…?”

“It’s because we’ve already learned that we can never be careful enough against you.”

After letting out a short ‘Kukuku’ laugh at Haruyuki’s retort, Nomi stuck out his right hand in front of him.

There was a card in between his fingertips. It looked similar to the item that the Yellow King, Yellow Radio had used before to replay a video of the past, but this one was red like blood. Haruyuki had heard that the special items sold at the «shops» within the Unlimited Neutral Field were mostly in the form of cards like that.

Noumi showed it to Haruyuki and Takumu, and then spoke.

“This is, just as its names says, a «Sudden Death Duel Card». It cost a fairly high price, but consider it my treat.”

He gave another ‘Kuku’ laugh.

“…First, I charge all of the points I have into this. The remaining two dueler frames are set as a team, so you two need to bet your respective points as well. If both of you have survived by the time my HP gauge reaches zero, all of the points charged into it will be equally distributed to you two. If only one of you remains, the winner takes it all. And when I beat the two of you, I’ll get all your points.”

“In other words, in the case that the two of us survive together, we won’t have to fight each other, right?”

“Exactly. Well, this is a little bit of consideration. It’s important…”

Noumi brandished the card around once again, and spoke.

“This duel won’t end until someone dies. And those that die will definitely lose Brain Burst. There is no exception to this at all. I’ll say this now, but if you «retreat» through a portal, it will be treated as your loss at that moment. At the same time as you return to reality, the forced uninstall will activate.”

“…I see.”

Nodding, Haruyuki looked at Takumu.

Cyan Pile’s eyes shined strongly behind the slits on his mask for a moment, and he firmly nodded his head.

“All right, that’s fine.”

Noumi slowly nodded to Haruyuki’s words, and then touched the card with the fingertip of his left hand. After he operated it a bit, the card shined a bright crimson for a moment.

He then threw the card to Takumu, who caught it and touched it the same as Noumi had done, causing it to shine again.

Takumu threw the card to Haruyuki, who then held it between the fingers of his right hand.

After taking a big breath, he clicked on it with his left hand. A holo-window was displayed in the center, and he touched the charge button.

After the explanation of the Sudden Death rules in a blunt font flowed down the screen, a confirmation dialog of Yes/No appeared. Yes.

When the exceedingly blunt Brain Burst system then once again asked the usual ‘Is this really okay?’, Haruyuki finally understood the reality that this was the edge of the edge of the point of death. Though he should have been detached from his real body, his back quickly grew cold. At the same time as his limbs became numb, virtual adrenaline was released into his blood vessels.

However, of course, he chose Yes.

The card shined an even more dazzling blood-like color and—it lifted up from Haruyuki’s hand and floated up to a slightly higher position.

The digital numbers of a countdown slowly rotated around it.

If this duel was made widely known in Accel World, an amazing number of gallery viewers would surely gather here. Although half a year had passed since Haruyuki had become a Burst Linker, he hadn’t heard any talk about something like a Sudden Death Duel where you betted all your points.

—No.

That’s not right. He had heard of it.

The king of swords who Haruyuki respected and admired more than anyone else, The Black King «Black Lotus». As part of the special rule that was imposed only on Level 9 Burst Linkers, she was always fighting while carrying the possibility of sudden death. That’s right, for example, in the weekly territory battles, if the other kings were to arrange meticulous preparations and appear there. If she were to lose to one of them. That person would immediately undergo the permanent loss of Brain Burst.

……Senpai. You must always be living under this kind of pressure.

One second after he murmured that within himself—

The countdown reached zero.

The blazing letters that flared up said ‘Duel Start’.

Dusk Taker widely hoisted up the claws of his hands.

Haruyuki also lowered his waist and prepared his hand-swords in front and behind him.

Noumi’s wings remained folded, and he didn’t show any signs of taking out his purple wave motion attack. He must first wish to have a ground battle of incarnate techniques.

—That’s just fine with me!

Crying that out within his mind, Haruyuki then kicked off the ground.

He dashed fiercely in order to close the 20-meter distance between them at once. The enemy’s silhouette in the center of his vision rapidly became larger.

He crossed over the shadows of the poles that stretched over the white courtyard. One pole, two poles—

When he stepped on the shadow of the third pole, it happened.

From the darkness of a thin shadow no more than 10 cm wide which shouldn’t have been able to hide anything, something sprang up as if gushing out and approached Haruyuki from his left and right.

They were square plates that seemed to be about 1 meter long on each side. These two dim deep black plates rose up like springs the moment that Haruyuki had stepped on the shadow of the poll, and squeezed him between them from both sides with a tremendous force.

Even with Silver Crow’s speed, he was not able to avoid them. He could only spread out his hands and press them against the surface of the plates with all his strength.

*GAAN!* A metallic sound resounded, and sparks flew from the joints of Haruyuki’s arms. The HP gauge, which was the only thing he could see, decreased slightly.

“Guh…”

He involuntarily cried out from the sharp pain. Although they were ultra-thin plates that were less than a few millimeters thick, they had a frightful pressure that pressed hard on him in a huge vise. He couldn’t extend his arms out at all, so he adjusted the position of his hands and desperately resisted with the armor of his elbows and hands. However, the plates instantly crammed Haruyuki into a 50 cm wide gap, and then finally stopped in that position.

*GISHI, GISHI* While hearing the sound of his avatar creaking, Haruyuki forcibly shook off his shock and thought.

—There are no traps in the «Moonlight» stage. Then, is this an unknown special technique of Dusk Taker!? No, if it were, there would definitely have been some kind of motion or voice command on his part in order to activate it. Besides, if he had such a powerful technique, he would have used it in our last duel. In that case——

This jet-black board was not Noumi’s technique. Of course, it wasn’t Lime Bell’s either.

In other words, there was someone else on this battlefield…

No, that’s impossible. There shouldn’t be anyone who could have performed an ambush in this duel that was repeatedly postponed so many times until just before it began.

When his instantaneous thoughts had reached that far, as if to betray his thoughts all too quickly, Haruyuki sensed a very faint presence.

His gaze was drawn to the left, in the direction of the school building.

The northernmost end of the white schoolyard was sunken darkly in the shadow produced by the 4-storied school building. The figure of Lime Bell who was crouched down alongside the wall looked small in comparison.

Haruyuki, and Takumu as well behind him, watched without speaking as a fifth avatar silently appeared right in front of her from the nearly-pointed tip section of the school building’s shadow.

Strange.

That was the only word to describe its appearance. Haruyuki had never once a duel avatar that had a stranger form than this in Accel World.

Its whole body was made out of thin plates arranged perpendicularly. It was as if many sheets of rectangular clipped paper had been piled in the form of body parts. Since gaps of approximately 1 cm existed between each plate, although its silhouette could be seen distinctly from the side, it only looked like thin vertical lines placed perpendicularly from the front.

Also, all of the dozens of plates that constituted the avatar were dyed a dim black as if they were smeared in ink.

To Haruyuki, he didn’t know if it was the avatar’s modeling or its color that was more shocking.

The laminated plate avatar was completely black no matter how he looked at it. It wasn’t like the «blackish» avatars he had seen before—not silver like Chrome Disaster, nor purplish like Dusk Taker. It was a perfect black which absorbed the light of all wavelengths and refused to be dyed.

“……You.”

Haruyuki murmured that in a hoarse voice.

However, the avatar didn’t respond, but instead tilted its square head and stared at Haruyuki from inside its many gaps. In that instant, the pressure of the two plates on each of side of Haruyuki increased the pressure on his body. Silver Crow’s armor made an unpleasant sound and creaked.

At this point, Haruyuki finally noticed that the right arm of the laminated avatar didn’t exist at all. Instead, a hazy grey light trembled at the end of its shoulder.

Haruyuki didn’t understand what kind of logic it used, but it was clear that its right arm was the two plates currently restraining him, considering both their color and form.

And there was one more thing that was clear.

This black avatar was an ambusher that Noumi had prepared. An ambush that should have been carefully eliminated after Haruyuki and Takumu examined all the possibilities.

“…Why…How…It should have been possible for the time to have been specified…”

Takumu, who had remained standing behind him, cried that out like a groan.

Even after he said that, the laminated avatar remained silent. Instead, the one that let out a short ‘Kuku’ laugh and spoke was Dusk Taker, who was standing several meters in front of Haruyuki.

“Fu, fu. Geez, you people make me enjoy myself time and time again. It’s nice, that astonished-manner of yours. So much that it makes me want to pay a viewing fee…Speaking of which, what did you say a little while ago? ‘We’ve already learned that we can never be careful enough against you’? Unfortunately, it seems that your diligence wasn’t enough, haha, HAHAHAHA!!”

After letting out another short bout of loud laughter, he suddenly spread out his hands.

“…Though I say that, since the two of you are in the position where you’ll be losing all your points soon, it’s meaningless no matter what you get at this point. At the very least, I’ll let you in on the secret as a farewell gift. —It isn’t because I predicted the time you specified, but neither is it because the person over there waited on this side for months before we appeared here, of course.”

He further moved the talons of his right hand and tapped his head which had a lens-type visor fitted to it.

“The two of you already know that we have a Brain Implant Chip here. The BIC, that is to say a growth-type terminal is connected to the sensory area of our brains as a bio-electronic interface, but…depending on the programming, it is possible for it to reach the deepest parts of the brain.”

“De…Deepest parts…?”

As Haruyuki muttered that, Noumi nodded his head in an exaggerated manner.

“Yes. Naturally, it’s extremely dangerous. Even I haven’t gone that far. But, the person over there is quite daring despite his appearance. His terminal extends all the way to the thought clock control center of his brain.”

Thought clock.

Those were the words that formed the basis of the super-technology which realized the «acceleration» of Burst Linkers. The Brain Burst program accelerates the user’s thoughts by increasing the base clock inside the brain, which uses the person’s heartbeat as the basis, by 1000 times. Whether it was Diving into the usual duel field or the Unlimited Neutral Field, that multiplication rate was fixed and couldn’t be manipulated at all.

In other words, since Haruyuki and Takumu had postponed the time of the duel for more than an hour, nearly two months of subjective time had passed in this world. Noumi shouldn’t have a comrade that would help him by intently endure such a length of time and waiting in ambush—that was how it was supposed to be. However.

“I’ll say it one more time. He dived into the Unlimited Neutral Field at 8 PM in real world time. However, he never had to wait so many months inside here. Listen well…By deactivating his brain’s thought clock control center by using the BIC, he can arbitrarily stop the acceleration of his thoughts. He’s, in other words, the only «Deceleration Ability User» in all of Accel World!”

“…Deceleration…Ability…”

Haruyuki didn’t know whether those repeated words came out of his or Takumu’s mouth.

As Haruyuki couldn’t find any other words to say, a new voice finally reached his ears.

“…Good grief.”

It was the quiet voice of a youth, which seemed genial somehow even under the electronic effect that was characteristic of duel avatars. Haruyuki felt like it bore a strong resemblance to the voice of a young glasses-wearing male teacher that had been his only favorite homeroom teacher in his elementary school days.

While still restraining Haruyuki with tremendous pressure, the laminated avatar spoke for the first time in a soft voice without any strain in it at all.

“Hey, Taker-kun. I can’t help but feel that that talkativeness of yours was what bounced you around and drove you into a Sudden Death Duel situation like this.”

“Haha, that is merely a difference of opinion. Like you consider silence as a weapon, I only consider eloquence as a weapon. So, how about their shocked faces? Doesn’t it look like they’ve already lost the will to fight in the face of our technological capabilities?”

“I don’t know about that. That small kid there is still doing his very best to hang on. I can’t crush him any harder than this.”

“Hee, even if he’s weakened, he’s still a metal color after all.”

As Noumi let out a ‘Fufufu’ laugh, the laminated avatar signaled Noumi with a small movement of his left hand.

“Under these circumstances, my hands are full with pinning him in place. It would be helpful if you could tidy up the big one back there a little early than planned.”

“Roger, roger. I don’t plan to make you work more than the remuneration I paid you. Just give me three minutes…no, thirty seconds.”

Those words of contempt by Noumi—

Finally relit Haruyuki’s fighting spirit.

—Just thirty seconds? You, who has never won an honest match against Taku, in just thirty seconds!?

Gritting his teeth hard, he ran his gaze over the plates on either side of him for a moment.

—This isn’t a situation where I can remain restrained forever by such flimsy plates. If the enemy is two, our side is also two. I’ll leave Noumi to Taku, and I’ll take down…this guy!

Haruyuki concentrated all of his consciousness that contained those thoughts into one point on his brow.

Suddenly, a metallic high frequency sound was produced out of nowhere and Silver Crow’s body shook. The feeling that his consciousness was connecting to the imagination circuit hidden within the Brain Burst program.

The laminated avatar that was constantly restraining Haruyuki had a grey aura around his right shoulder. Niko had said that the phenomenon of continuously emitted light, in other words «Over-Ray», was proof of the Incarnate System being in use. In other words, these plates were the incarnate technique of that avatar. In that case, he also had to muster all his strength and fight back.

A white light was lit on Silver Crow’s sharp fingertips.

It quickly covered all the way from his wrist to the vicinity of his elbow in a pale light.

Haruyuki sucked in a big breath—and shouted out loudly the name of the incarnate technique that he had just recently named.

“«Laser…Sword»!!”

Then, he crossed his arms, and thrusted the fingertips of his right hand at the left plate and the fingertips of his left hand at the right plate.

*GYAAAAAN!* Along with a high-pitched sound, his swords of elongated light crashed into the jet-black plates and threw off dazzling sparks.

The parts that the swords ate into instantly became red hot as if they had been showered with the flames of a plasma arc. A glow rapidly spread over the surface of the thin plates, and they vibrated violently.

—At this rate, I’ll break through them!!

The moment he cried that out inside his mind and strained all of his image power.

“Oops…my, my, this is serious.”

A calm voice was heard. Then,

“«Static Pressure[1] ».”

The call of a technique name.

Suddenly the two plates rumbled with a ‘GOGON!’.

The thickness of the plates, which had only been a few millimeters, rapidly increased. Exceeding 5 cm, then 10 cm, they changed into something that would better called «lumps» than plates.

The two huge cuboids, which had a texture that felt like it could cut darkness itself, poured pressure that easily exceeded the pressure from before onto Haruyuki.

“Gu…uh!”

While groaning like that, he mustered as much mind power as possible and resisted with his Laser Swords. However, even though it had looked on the verge of melting just a moment ago, the red hot portions were reduced by half the instant the thickness increased.

An even stronger gray aura was being released from the laminated avatar’s shoulder. It was already definite that this technique was not a special technique regulated by the system, but a incarnate technique derived from the image power of the enemy avatar.

Through the imagination output of the two sides fighting each other, Haruyuki felt himself touch what filled the inside of the laminated avatar.

Darkness.

Unlike Noumi’s mind power, it wasn’t a hungry nothingness that sought to swallow everything. Although it certainly existed there, it didn’t possess any kind of energy, and therefore did not give nor take, but instead rejected all interference. No, it wasn’t even an active rejection. It was «isolation». An absolute detachment that couldn’t consider the state of people’s hearts at all.

The instant he felt that, Haruyuki reflexively feared coming into contact with it through mind power.

His hand’s Laser Swords weakened in that short instant and flickered.

That was enough. Becoming tremendously heavy, the hard objects dug into Haruyuki’s shoulders, and Haruyuki’s movements were completely confined. Once again, he heard the voice of the laminated avatar.

“Hey, you. If you could, please remain quiet and still like that. The work I’ve been contracted to do only involves temporarily pinning you in place. I have no intention of fighting.”

—What…kind of selfish thing are you saying!

Shouting that out sharply within his mind, Haruyuki once again raised the output of his Laser Swords. However, it took all his strength just to reduce the pressure of the black lumps slightly, and he couldn’t push them back much more than that.

While he was completely restrained and unable to move, the figures of two avatars slowly stepping up to each other came into Haruyuki’s vision.

From the west, with his slightly longer arms compared to his short-statured body handing loosely at his sides, was Dusk Taker.

From the east, with the top of his right arm’s «pile driver» shining sharply, was Cyan Pile.

Both of them took a little distance and faced each other in the middle of the white schoolyard.

An atmosphere of fighting spirit that was rapidly increasing filled the field and pushed up the density of the air. In this feeling of tension that trembled violently, Haruyuki could neither speak out nor pray for anything.

“……Heh.”

Suddenly, Noumi spoke while idly waving his wrists.

“It seems you’ve made your own preparations. In that case, I should be able to enjoy myself a little…right?”

He then raised his hands and made his fingertips touch the front of his chest. A distorted ‘IIIIIIN’ vibrating was produced, and suddenly, a pulsating purple light gushed out strongly. It was Noumi’s incarnate technique which Haruyuki and the others called the «wave surge of nothingness». Haruyuki thought that he would immediately fly up and attack with long-range firepower, but it seemed like he intended to fight a ground battle, perhaps in order to mock Cyan Pile.

“Does that technique have a name?”

Takumu asked that in a calm voice. In response, Noumi answered with a laugh that made it seem like he was letting out a great breath.

“Hah, I don’t have any reason to give names to my techniques. Although having no name for it seems to make the activation somewhat slower, I decline doing that kind of game-like behavior! …Besides…”

He spread out his hands wide. The wave surge light left a hazy trail behind it in the air.

“Is there any reason in you asking something like that? When you’ll be losing Brain Burst in just a few minutes?”

“There is a reason, of course. Because I want to remember, at least for a little while, the details about the opponent for whom I’ll be performing their last rites over their corpse.”

Coldly retorting like that, Takumu moved his right arm’s Enhanced Armament in a stance sideways in front of his chest.

Haruyuki also knew that Takumu had done mind power training under the Red King Niko’s coaching over a period of one week. However, he hadn’t heard what kind of technique Takumu had obtained, nor even whether he had reached the level where he could use it in real battle.

Despite being in a situation where he was stuck between two lumps and his avatar was screeching, Haruyuki wasn’t able to stop himself from pouring his gaze intently on Takumu.

Next, Cyan Pile lifted up his left arm as well, and—

He did an action that Haruyuki didn’t expect.

With the fingers of his left hand, he strongly grasped the steel stake that stuck out from his Enhanced Armament.

…Taku, what the heck are you doing!?

Haruyuki’s eyes widened. That stake was the scar within Takumu’s heart—born out of his memories of the cruel bullying he had received in kendo class when he was an elementary school student. It was the bamboo sword that had repeatedly poked his throat, and also a lethal weapon for the sake of piercing the throats of the guys who had bullied him.

So why was he grasping its pointed tip himself?

Takumu answered Haruyuki’s question with his actions.

“—«Cyan Blade»!!”

Following that shouted technique name call.

*GASHUN!* The steel stake shot out. Haruyuki compulsorily expected the spectacle of the pointed end to blowing off Takumu’s left hand. But.

The thing that was blown away and scattered was the right arm’s «pile driver» itself. Only the stake remained as a pale light while being grasped in his left hand. Takumu drew a big semi-circle with it and put it up above his head, and then brought up his now free right hand to hold it as well and swung it down in front of him.

The light scattered, and what appeared out of it was.

Namely, a sword.

The blade extended up to one meter and a half. It was single-edged, but was completely straight, with a single deep indigo line running through it up to its point. The color of the blade was pale blue, and a faint glow of the same color was wrapped around the entire sword.

Holding that beautiful weapon in stance, Cyan Pile was now, coupled with the color of his armor, nothing else except a complete close range-type duel avatar. No, it was a completed figure that could already be a «swordsman».

……Taku.

Haruyuki whispered that in a voice that didn’t form into a real voice.

As if heading his thoughts, Takumu looked at Haruyuki for an instant and nodded. Then, he once again turned to the front and directly put his right leg forward. He positioned his sword halfway up with the expert motion of a kendo fighter.

A much more intense fighting spirit was blown out violently from that step, and the aura in Noumi’s hands flickered.

“…I see.”

Even after receiving that fighting spirit, Noumi muttered in a voice from which not much agitation could be externally seen. He then immediately let out a contemptuous laugh.

“Fufu, I see. It’s because losing to me in a match was very mortifying, is that it? So you embodied those feelings into that kind of shoddy sword. But well, if it’s a sword match that you wish…it can’t be helped, I’ll go along with you for a little while.”

And then Noumi also made the gesture of grasping something with his hands, and took the exact same halfway up stance.

Haruyuki watched feeling half-surprised and half-comprehending as the purple wave surge stretched out and took the form of a long sword. Noumi had once changed that wave surge into the form of long claws before. If it was a close-range weapon, it probably could change into various forms according to the image in his mind.

Although having the outward appearances of their duel avatars, the two of them faced each other in the exact same stances as during the final match in the kendo club inner tournament last week. However, there was no referee here. Nor any protective armor. What hung in the balance was their very life as Burst Linkers.

*JIRI* Both tiptoed forward and began to close the distance between them.

In the space between their two sword points, actual minute white sparks burst out and burned the air.

The battle had already started. Takumu and Noumi were fighting an «Override[2]» battle between them to see which had the stronger imagination.

—Taku, believe in yourself!!

Haruyuki shouted that out in his mind, and at that instant.

“—SEEAAAAAH!!”

“—CHEEEEEE!!”

Two spirited cries resounded loudly on the moonlit night battlefield, and the two of them kicked forward off the ground simultaneously.

Blue and purples trails were brightly drawn through the air, and their two swords crossed each other from the front.

*GAKIIIIN!* An intense impact sound. Takumu’s mind power which embodied the true nature of a sword, «cutting power», hit away Noumi’s mind power that tried to shave off everything. These swords that greatly repelled each other swung down at the same time. Again, a thunderous sound and sparks occurred. And again once more.

Then, the two of them took distance from each other and confronted each other while taking up their halfway up stances again.

From Dusk Taker’s mask, a mocking voice leaked out.

“My, my, this is surprising. You’re really doing your best to use that hastily improvised sword, haven’t you?”

“Of course. When it’s a kendo match without cheating, I’m stronger than you after all.”

Noumi laughed in a ‘Kukuku’ throaty voice in response to Takumu’s retort.

“I wonder about that, senpai. Do you think I wouldn’t notice? It’s obvious no matter how you try to hide it! You…have a fatal habit!!”

While shouting that out, Noumi sharply stepped forward. The length of the purple sword grasped in his hand increased and extended with a ‘SUUUU’.

Taking into account the force of the momentum from the lengthening of the blade—Dusk Taker savagely shot out a thrust, aiming at Cyan Pile’s throat.

“CHEIIIIIIN!”

Takumu’s arms sprang up as if convulsing and tried to protect his throat with his blue sword’s blade. But at that instant, Noumi’s sword moved like a fencing fleuret and changed the trajectory of its thrust.

*BYUUH!* An ear-hurting vibrating sound resounded, and the tip of the purple sword mowed down through the empty space on Cyan Pile’s right side.

Noumi cut his way forward like that. As if chasing that trajectory, a single pale spark flowed from Takumu’s wound.

“Guh…”

Immediately returning to his body immediately despite the groan, Takumu chased after Noumi. He let out a series of unstopping attacks at Noumi’s forearm, other forearm, face and eyes. But the purple sword twisted like a living thing and precisely repelled the attacks.

“Come on, come on, is it really all right, not protecting your neck like that?”

Once again, a ‘BYUO’ roar was emitted and Noumi’s sword thrusted out. It didn’t miss the moment when Takumu’s movements hardened for an instant, and this time the left side of his abdomen was cut up.

——Taku, hang in there!!

Haruyuki shouted that out within himself while fighting desperately against the black vise he was in.

The scars of Takumu’s heart. That was the memory of bullying he received in his kendo class as an elementary school student. Having been used as a practice stand for thrusting while having his arms bound behind his back had been humiliating to him, and more than that produced an overwhelming fear in him.

However, Takumu did not give up kendo. Takumu himself had said that it was because he didn’t have the willpower to give it up, but that wasn’t it. He continued it because he liked kendo. His love for it exceeded his fear. Those feelings…

Believe in those feelings, Taku!!

He couldn’t have heard Haruyuki’s voice. However, Takumu readjusted his staggering body and—

He lifted up the sword in his hands. Higher than his neck, and far above his head.

A blue aura even bluer than the moonlight wrapped around not only the sword that was positioned above his head, but also all the way from his arms to his shoulders.

Noumi glared from below at Takumu as his mind power’s «Over-Ray» wavered and he took a firm stance.

“……What a transparent bluff. Very well, if you want to leave your windpipe wide open, then…”

A dark purple Over-Ray gushed out with a ‘ZUAA’ from Noumi’s sword and arms.

“……Just as you wish, I’ll pierce it!!”

Dusk Taker’s charge was faster than Haruyuki’s eyes could follow. After stepping forward like a blur, he suddenly fired a thrust at Takumu’s throat that wasn’t a feint this time.

Takumu—neither avoided it nor protected himself.

Instead, he moved forward. He received the point of the sword which hid a certain-kill power in it with his thick left shoulder. A deep hole was dug unto his armor and thin pale sparks flew.

“Guh…”

A low pain-enduring voice leaked out from under his mask. However, immediately after.

“ZEAAAAAH!!”

With a force that shook the air, the «Cyan Blade» was swung straight down.

Noumi dodged to the right in an expected reaction, but he couldn’t completely avoid it and received the sword tip through the left side of his chest. Although it was slightly shallow, red-purple sparks still shot out dazzlingly.

“Tch…!”

As Noumi tried to get some distance away while clicking his tongue, Takumu showered him with even more attacks. Just before the blue blade touched his mask, his purple blade unfortunately blocked it.

Like that, the two of them shifted to a battle of locking swords. Sparks flew spewed out like a waterfall from the point their swords crossed, and brightly illuminated their masks.

This state of equilibrium lasted only for an instant. Possessing a better physique and physical strength, Cyan Pile pushed his sword forward with a jerk. The Incarnate System had nothing to do with this result. It was purely the power difference between a close range-type and an overall distance balance-type coming out here.

Eventually, Dusk Taker faltered as his right knee hit the ground.

His blade slipped, and Takumu’s «Cyan Blade» approached Noumi’s left shoulder. Due to the huge pressure, a fine crack ran through the white-tiled schoolyard. Their two masks approached each other just short of touching.

Suddenly, a certain premonition ran through Haruyuki’s mind with a shiver.

‘—Taku, dodge!’ An instant before he could shout that out.

Noumi let out a sharp voice.

“«Demonic Commandeer!!»”

*SUBA!* Along with that sound, a darkness with density was emitted from Dusk Taker’s lens-type visor in a whirl.

It hit Cyan Pile’s mask from the front and, as if it were also some kind of living thing, it invaded inside him while shuddering. The blue avatar’s upper body bent back and stopped for an instant.

«Demonic Commandeer».

That was the only inherent special technique that Dusk Taker had. Its effect, which consumed his entire full gauge in order to activate, stole a single ability belonging to the targeted duel avatar, like their special techniques or an Enhanced Armament. The fact that Noumi hadn’t used his wings and had instead done a close-quarters battle from the front until now was a trap aiming for this.

Cyan Pile did not have a system-like ability[3]. And even two of his three special techniques were derived from his Enhanced Armament. In other words, in the case that he received the «Demonic Commandeer», he would likely have both his «Pile Driver» and special techniques stolen all together with a probability of 75%.

If that happened—that «Cyan Blade», which was reconstructed from his steel stake due to mind power, would also disappear.

The momentary still state that covered the field felt like it was forever to Haruyuki.

The darkness which should have flowed backwards from Cyan Pile’s mask and returned to Dusk Taker—

Didn’t occur.

Instead.

“…OOOOH!”

With a war cry, Takumu swung the sword grasped by his hands down in a straight line.

Noumi’s left arm was cut off from under the shoulder and scattered into purple light before disappearing. At the same time, his avatar itself was also struck to the ground, bounded violently and rolled backwards by almost 10 meters.

As one would expect, he immediately got up and repositioned his blade of nothingness with only his right hand. However, as if displaying the agitation within his heart, the point of his sword trembled minutely.

Pointing his brilliantly shining blue blade at Noumi, Cyan Pile spoke.

“You really are too greedy, whatever the circumstances are.”

Haruyuki did not grasp the meaning of those words immediately. Although he probably didn’t plan on explaining, Takumu continued speaking calmly.

“—I’ve always thought it was strange. Why you didn’t take Lime Bell’s healing ability. Even though if you did, you would have all three abilities of «flight», «firepower» and «healing», and become an absolute person that could surpass even the kings. The reason for that is—”

As the eyes within his slits brightened with a ‘PIKA’, Takumu declared it.

“Because your capacity is insufficient. It shouldn’t be possible for an overly powerful special technique like «stealing the abilities of others» to have no restrictions. Your «Demonic Commandeer» has a maximum limit to the number and general potential of the abilities you steal and retain. Because of that, you lack the capacity to take two rare abilities like «flight» and «healing» at once, even if you were to delete all the other powers you have. Isn’t that right?”

Pressing down on the cut-off section of his left arm with his right hand, Dusk Taker remained silent. Right now, Noumi should be tormented by an intense pain that was double what was experienced in the usual duel field. Was it that he couldn’t move—or was he feeling so much anger that he forgot about the pain?

While carefully pointing his sword at him, Takumu slowly closed the distance between them little by little. His calm voice flowed through the field once again.

“—The person who coached me in mind power said this. That most of Cyan Pile’s potential is comprised of this «pile driver». You surely estimated that you could always get rid of your current free space as well if you stole my Enhanced Armament, but…unfortunately, you judged the value of my «pile driver» incorrectly.”

“……Fufufu, I see.”

Although Dusk Taker finally let out his usual contemptuous laughter, his voice was tinged with a gloomy and distorted effect, as if reflecting his true feelings.

“I see. Although I said it before, that stick was made using very painful memories of yours as a resource, right? That…is a metaphor for a bamboo sword, right? Was it from something painful in the kendo club? Could it be that such a cool senpai like you was bullied in an unsightly manner? Haha, no way! You’re not like that pig over there!!”

…Taku, those words are another of Noumi’s traps! Don’t listen!

Even though he was desperately resisting against the jet black vise that was mercilessly pressing hard on him, Haruyuki shouted that out within his mind.

Perhaps because of anger produced within Takumu, the light covering his sword wavered slightly. However, he quickly regained control and responded in a calm voice.

“—My own memories don’t amount to much. Not when compared to the scars that made Dusk Taker, your avatar appear. The reason you’re a «plunderer» is because you have nothing left inside you. You steal everything because you’re an empty hole. You also have probably already realized it. Even if you take away the powers of others…no, their hopes, their friendships and love, the real reason you do that is because you can never have them yourself.”

Once again, silence.

The dark-colored avatar turned down his face deeply beneath the blue moonlight pouring down.

Eventually, he rose up while feebly staggering. While pressing down on his left shoulder, he slowly turned his face upward. His entire body minutely trembled, which then quickly changed to intense shaking.

“…Kukuku.”

What leaked out from behind his spherical visor was thin and creepy laughter.

“Kuku, fufufu…Hahaha, aha…AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

His whole body bending far backwards, Dusk Taker let out a burst high-pitched loud laughter.

“AHAHAHAHAHA!! Nothing inside me!? Empty!? Hahaha, that…that describes that guy instead!!”

After laughing for a while, he began to talk like a dam had burst within him.

“Since you people are clever, you must have already guessed after looking over the graduation album, right? Yes, my «Parent» is my real three-year-older brother. That guy was the real plunderer. Using his slightly large body and violence, he stole sweats and toys from me during our childhood, and when he got a little bigger he stole my pocket money and New Years’ money…and finally he even stole the only girl I got along with. A completely splendid style of plundering, fufufu.”

He shook his head left and right two, three times, and laughed as if amazed. His sad and gloomy monologue continued.

“…The first thing that that guy gave to me…it was of course «Brain Burst». I was foolishly glad and even excited. That’s why, just as his first lecture finished, I felt disappointed when he said ‘Earn ten points every week’. But I would go through terrible experiences of real life violence if I refused. I would desperately «duel» by going to depopulated areas and supply the points I gathered honestly to my brother. I was completely like a dog. Yes, that guy even took my one final thing from me in the process. My «pride» as a human.”

…No. I don’t want to listen.

Haruyuki held his breath, and tried to shut out from his consciousness Noumi’s words, which brought with them a pain just by listening to them, as if there were some kind of attacking power in the words themselves.

…I don’t want to hear such a story. No, I don’t need to hear it.

—Taku, deliver the finishing blow already. Make it end. We don’t need to go along with a story whose veracity is not certain. No, it’s surely a lie. A strategy to unsettle us.

However, Haruyuki couldn’t help but understand.

That Noumi’s story was the truth. And that Takumu could not cut him down in this situation.

Dusk Taker continued speaking to Cyan Pile who had stopped moving.

“…But, even in that kind of situation, I collected points little by little for myself and raised my level. And one day, I finally obtained my first special technique in this avatar that didn’t possess any significant power. That was «Demonic Commandeer»…During the same time period, I soon after got two other great powers. Namely, the BIC and knowledge of the Incarnate System. My mind power training was harsh…my coach told me countless times that it was a waste of time. But, I stuck to my hatred towards my brother as sustenance. Yes, that time finally came at last. The time when I took back everything that that guy…that my brother had stolen from me.”

Kukukuku.

That chuckle tinged with the sound of resentment dripped through the field.

“—I called my brother to the Unlimited Neutral Field, and first took his ability. After doing that, I tortured my shocked brother to death with mind power. Since his HP disappeared a little too quickly for my taste, I thought more on how to do it the second time. After one hour passed and he revived, I was more skillful in how I killed him. The excitement and pleasure I felt then can’t be described in words! The way he cried when his points finally ran out and he lost Brain Burst last of all…just remembering it makes me laugh even now…kuku, fufufu, AHAHAHAHAHA!”

After grasping his stomach for a while, Noumi raised his head up and shouted.

“Nothing inside me!? An empty hole!? The one that’s like that isn’t me, but that guy now!! An ex-Acceleration Ability User that has lost Brain Burst. There is no other existence sadder and more pitiable than that! I’m different…I will obtain everything. Both in Accel World, and the real world. Even the illusions like friendship and bonds that you people believe in…”

The eyes within his visor glowed strongly.

“—I won’t be left behind, but steal and rise up!!”

Along with that shout, Noumi shook off his right hand with a big swing.

On his left shoulder, there was something that shot out from the cut-off section of his arm at a violent speed like black snakes. It was the three tentacles Enhanced Armament that he had equipped when he first dueled with Haruyuki. He must have secretly recited the equip command and had been waiting for it to regenerate.

The tentacles that could extend anywhere let out a roar and pounced, but it wasn’t towards Cyan Pile who was standing in front of him. Furthermore, it wasn’t towards Silver Crow who was squeezed within a vise either.

It was towards Chiyuri—Lime Bell, who had been sinking her body underneath the shadow of the distant school building and had not tried to speak a word until now.

“Wha…”

Although he leaked out a short voice of astonishment, Takumu still reacted and raised his sword up to cut away the tentacles.

However, one moment before he could do that.

The tentacles, which quickly contracted like rubber, coiled around the leaf-colored avatar and hoisted her beneath his blade.

*GISHI* Cyan Pile’s whole body jarred, and he stopped his slash. The sword edge slightly touched the brim of Lime Bell’s pointy hat, and let out a single spark.

The three tentacles instantly coiled around Chiyuri’s entire body and mercilessly constricted her.

“……!”

The delicate avatar bent backwards and leaked out a pained gasp. Added on to that gasp was Noumi’s snickering.

“Fu, fufufu. Did you think I merely called her here just for the role of healing me? No way! I’m already aware that Lime Bell is a weak point of yours. You have to effectively use any thing that can be used…That is the secret of «duels», right!”

“…You, bastard…”

As Takumu’s sword edge trembled and he let out that low growl, Chiyuri tried to say something to him. However, the tentacles instantly coiled around her mouth several times over and halted Lime Bell’s words.

“Now then, please throw away that sword and cancel your Enhanced Armament as well.”

After Noumi gave those cold directions, Takumu responded in a grating voice.

“…Lime Bell isn’t participating in our «Sudden Death Duel». You can’t make her a hostage.”

“Heh? Is that really so?”

Dusk Taker tilted his head.

And casually grasped around Lime Bell’s right elbow with his right hand that was trickling with purple wave surge.

*GOGIN*.

And then a very, very unpleasant sounded resounded. It was the sound of her thin yellow-green arm being cut off from her elbow joint.

“……————!!”

Lime Bell’s whole body convulsed and she let out a silent scream. Her back bent backwards as far as it could two, three times. Each time, huge amounts of green sparks gushed out from the cut-off section of her arm.

Haruyuki’s vision was suddenly dyed a blazing red. An overwhelming fury blew violently through him, and he frantically struggled to escape. However, the black vise didn’t so much as shake slightly, as if mocking his anger. On the contrary, the moment the output of his Laser Swords that had been resisting the pressure until now were disturbed due to his anger, they pressed against his shoulders even more strongly.

“You…bastaaaaaaard!!”

Instead, the one that shouted was Takumu. There was something which struck against his large avatar’s chest with a whack as he took a step forward. It was Lime Bell’s arm. After rebounding off him and flying through the air, it became countless polygons and disappeared.

“…You understand now, don’t you, senpai? She is Diving into the Unlimited Neutral Field for the first time. In this world where we receive twice as much pain than in the lower order field.”

He didn’t need to say that. Right now, Chiyuri should be feeling pain that was equivalent to having her body’s arm cut off in the real world. Perhaps because of how big the shock was, the slender avatar continued convulsing bit by bit.

Before the eyes of the frozen Cyan Pile, Noumi raised his right hand again.

“…Also, if I keep doing this, her special technique gauge for healing me will also fill up.”

Just as he said that, he pierced the tip of his sharp index finger into Chiyuri’s flank.

Once again, her avatar sprang up greatly. Even from beneath the tentacles coiled several times around her mouth, a thin scream could be clearly heard coming from her.

Stab. Again. And then—again.

Just before the fourth hole was stabbed into her.

“……Stop it!!”

Takumu shouted in a low and broken voice.

His whole body trembled. The Over-Ray covering his sword and arms flickered irregularly like a bad contact lighting.

‘—Don’t do it, Taku’, is what Haruyuki wanted to shout out. But he couldn’t speak.

“……Please, just stop…”

He spoke as if moaning. The «Cyan Blade» fell from his hands and rolled onto the ground with a clear metallic sound.

It then immediately dispersed into light. The light flowed through the air and was sucked into his avatar’s right arm, before returning to the original pile driver.

Takumu murmured the unequip command, and then the Enhanced Armament also disappeared. Immediately after confirming that, Dusk Taker swung his left arm widely and threw away Chiyuri towards a location far away.

He no longer paid any more attention the body-bent and pain-enduring Lime Bell.

The dark-colored avatar charged straight at Cyan Pile and embedded his right claws into his robust abdomen.

*DOBAH* There was a wet set, and his black arm stuck out from Cyan Pile’s back.

A rapid stream of pale blue sparks came out as he drew his arm back out. Takumu staggered, pressed against his knees to hold himself up from collapsing, and stopped moving while hanging his head.

“It’s because you believe in a lie like «bonds».”

Quietly—as if seriously having pity for Takumu, Noumi’s voice resounded.

“No, it’s because you act as if you believe in it, that you lost. If you really had faith in each other, you would have cut me along with her. Am I wrong?”

—You’re wrong…you’re wrong, you’re wrong!!

Haruyuki fiercely struggled. As he tried to escape from the vise and go save Takumu, sparks flew out from the joints of his arms in resistance. As he fought against it, he cried out in an unspoken voice.

—What do you understand!! There’s no way you could understand just how much Taku feels for Chiyu!! If he had cut down Chiyu as well there, that wouldn’t be faith, but just cold calculation!!

But, the black lumps on either side of him coldly applied pressure on him as if trying to crush even his anger.

—Why can’t I move? Why can’t I even let out my voice? Right now, if I don’t move right now, then what was the point of everything I did until now…

“Sorry, boy.”

From behind him, Haruyuki heard a quiet whisper. It was the voice of the laminated avatar who had been completely quiet until now.

“This technique stops your speaking as well as your movement. Therefore, you can’t speak nor use any voice commands. I would have liked to at least let you say words of farewell to your friend, but…Sorry.”

Hearing those words that sounded like a serious apology, Haruyuki’s anger became even more inflamed and raged through the inside of his avatar.

*ZUKIN* His back hurt.

*ZUKIN, ZUKIN* A lightning-like pain periodically spread out from the middle of his shoulder blades.

He felt like he could hear some kind of voice. However, as if it too were being obstructed by the vise, it didn’t reach Haruyuki’s consciousness.

If he couldn’t talk, he could only resist with mind power—with his «Laser Swords». He knew that, but his pounding anger disturbed his concentration.

In the schoolyard, Dusk Taker raised his right hand while facing Cyan Pile who was on his knees.

The wave surge of nothingness once again changed into a thin sword. Making a ‘BYUBYUN’ sound, he cut down twice.

With a heavy sound, both of Cyan Pile’s arms were severed from the joints and fell to the ground. A mass of lightning gushed out from his shoulders like a waterfall.

Haruyuki heard a voice,

…Haru, I’m sorry.

…I can’t fight anymore. I’m truly sorry…

The tears that overflowed beneath Haruyuki’s mask blurred his vision. Within his distorted screen, he could see Dusk Taker raising his sword high in order to deliver the finishing blow.

—Here.

Is it going to end here? This is the ending of my…and also Takumu’s «Brain Burst»?

Those thoughts fell down with a plop within his mind.

As if that was also a drop at the freezing point of absolute zero, the flames of his anger became frost and dissolved. His limbs suddenly grew cold. The lights on his hands flickered, and vanished. All sensation in his body went far away. The feeling he had experienced several times before, the premonition of the phenomenon where an avatar stops in a standstill.

…Ah, I see. «Zero File[4]». So this is also an act caused by the Incarnate System. The Minus imagination negates the heat of the heart, and changes an avatar into a cold lump.

…Even if I noticed such a thing, there’s no longer any meaning to it.

…No, that’s not right.

If «Zero-fication» was the «Minus mind power» that all Burst Linkers could use, the opposite must also be true. An avatar that couldn’t move should be able to move through Plus imagination. Even if—he was in a situation like this where he was trapped in a vise of absolute strength.

Like that time once before, where he had spurred himself on with his tattered body while next to that person who had been sleeping on a bed of black thorns, and rose back up once again.

With a ‘PO’ sound, a small fire was lit in Haruyuki’s chest.

It wasn’t the flame of black anger that he had felt many times until now towards Noumi. It was what could be called ‘will’. The pure power of the heart that Kuroyukihime, Niko, Blood Leopard, and Sky Raker had taught him.

The small heat began to melt the ice binding his entire body. The connection to his limbs was restored.

A blue radiance that also resembled a hot flame—«Over-Ray» was suddenly released from the thin seems and joints of Silver Crow’s mirror-like armor.

However, without even being conscious of this light, Haruyuki tightly applied both his palms to the vise on either side of him.

“Gu…uh…”

A low voice leaked out from his throat. He mustered all his power, and tried to widen the gap. His avatar creaked and groaned, and sharp pain burst through his elbows and shoulders.

Many shrill metallic sounds resounded consecutively. It was the sound of fine cracks running through the armor of his arms. A blue light radiated in thin streaks from within them as well.

“U…o…oh…!”

Lumps of pure pain exploded everywhere in his nervous system and dyed his consciousness white. But, Haruyuki continued putting forth his strength. Some of his broken armor tore off and scattered at his feet. His slightly exposed dark grey body was surrounded like flames by a blue aura.

Even after this, the absolute hardness and pressure of the black lumps didn’t loosen completely. But, Haruyuki believed.

Not in his own power.

He believed that the power of the people who didn’t think of Accel World as just as tool, and the power of the people who had supported and guided him this far would not yield.

“Oh…oh, ooooooh!!”

At the same time as he yelled, all of his upper body’s armor other than his helmet broke and was blown off him.

A blue flash condensed, exploded, and dyed the world.

Haruyuki felt it. That the restraint of the black vise weakened for just an instant.

He kicked off the through with all his power. His shoulders chafed against the surface of the walls, and his HP gauge changed and scattered into sparks. Putting all his energy into running across the distance of a single step that seemed infinite, Haruyuki finally escaped from the restraint.

He rolled over the ground. After turning over once, he stood up. While running with the momentum from that, he drew his right hand to his side. He concentrated his mind power.

He cried out.

“U…aaah!!”

As Dusk Taker’s arm stopped while in the middle of trying to cut off Cyan Pile’s neck and he turned around to look with a hint of surprise, Haruyuki mustered all of the will power he had left and fired a «Laser Sword» at him.

*SHUKIIIN!* The sword point of light that flew more than 5 meters through the air—

Cut off two of the three tentacles from Noumi’s left arm.

That was the limit.

As all his body’s strength faded and his legs got tangled together, Haruyuki collapsed flat to the ground and rolled over face-up.

Perhaps because he had mustered the image too strongly, Noumi’s voice sounded distant when it reached his flickering consciousness.

“Oops, please don’t startle me, senpai.”

He paused a little there.

“…Letting your prey slip out from your vise, didn’t you slack off a little too much?”

And then the laminated avatar responded from far away.

“How cruel, I was going full-out there, you know? You should praise that boy instead, he really is an incredibly tenacious person. Though, it seems he’s already reached his limit.”

And then—Haruyuki watched blankly as thin plates once again stretched up on both sides of his body.

He moved his gaze, and in the middle of his vision that had turned upside down, he saw Dusk Taker raise his purple sword high in order to properly finish off Takumu this time.

He couldn’t think of anything anymore. Haruyuki’s soul was exhausted to the point that he couldn’t even feel despair.

“Then…Goodbye, Cyan Pile.”

The purple blade dropped down through the air.

Leaving behind many afterimages in a semi-circular descent, it headed towards the blue avatar’s neck—

Just before Haruyuki tried to close his eyes and cut off his consciousness.

*KIN*.

A clear sound.

Just as it was going to touch Takumu’s neck right then, Noumi’s sword was severed from its base and disappeared as if dissolving away.

—Mind power cannot be cut except by mind power.

It wasn't by Haruyuki. Furthermore, the laminated avatar that was restraining Haruyuki shouldn’t have interfered with Noumi either.

In other words, there a new Burst Linker that had arrived on this battlefield.

Haruyuki opened his eyes wide, raised his head as if guided by something, and looked up at the night sky in front of him.

The magnificent grey palace that stood completely still. In the middle, on top of the spire that had originally been the staircase section of Umesato Middle School.

There was a single silhouette, with the enormous blue full moon in the background behind it.

Impossible.

A sturdy black horse stood there with its long mane fluttering in the wind. Its eyes shined a pale blue, and its four hooves were also wrapped in blue flames.

And on its back, a slender rider gallantly straddled it.

Black quartz armor that reflected the moonlight bewitchingly. A sharp V-shaped mask. A black lotus-shaped skirt that surrounded a delicate body.

Both arms were sharp long swords. Both legs were also—swords. That clever radiance, that seemed to cut apart even the pouring moonlight.

“…Aah.”

A quiet voice similar to a sigh fell out from Haruyuki’s mouth. And then once again.

“……Aah…”

He felt that, if he said anything more than that, the horse and its rider would become an illusion and vanish.

However, the rider bowed her head slightly just now, as if having heard Haruyuki’s whispers from where he lay far away on the ground, and lightly kicked the belly of the black horse with her right leg.

The horse raised its forelegs high in the air, spurted out blue flames from its nostrils and neighed furiously, and then started running through the air as its hoofs resounded with a ‘DOKA’. As the duel avatars on the ground watched while unable to speak, the ridden horse drew a pale blue trail through the night sky, reached right above the schoolyard—

And there, the rider jumped off nimbly.

She spread out her long arms and approached the ground as if gliding. Just before landing, she kicked out one of her legs a little right beneath her.

*KIN* A sharp sound resounded, and the avatar alighted down to the white ground on the tip of her right leg.

The black horse still in the air then drew an arc through the air, and immediately after starting to dash towards the southwest sky, it disappeared as if dissolving away.

After seeing it off, the jet-black avatar gazed straight at Haruyuki. She nodded once again. And then to Cyan Pile who had raised his head. Her gaze also moved in turn to the laminated avatar further way, and to Lime Bell who remained fallen on the ground.

And then lastly, she gazed straight at Dusk Taker.

Within her reflective mask, both her violet blue eyes made a noise and shone.

“……It, can’t be.”

The one that let out a hoarse voice was Noumi.

“It can’t be. Why…How, here. How can you be here?”

That astonishment and question existed similarly in Haruyuki as well. However, an overwhelming and deep emotion which exceeded that filled Haruyuki’s chest to the brim, and he was unable to say anything. While he was collapsed there, the black quartz avatar merely gazed at him hard.

Noumi groaned again.

“It can’t be…Did you return by yourself from Okinawa just for this duel? No, even if you did, you shouldn’t have been able to arrive in time. Impossible…Why, how can you be here! Black King…Black Lotus!!”

Yes, the jet-black avatar couldn’t be anyone else besides that person, the Black King who served as the leader of the legion «Nega Nebulas» and held a seat among the «Seven Kings of Pure Color», «Black Lotus».

However, the one who held that displayed figure, the Umesato Middle School third-year student and student council vice-president, Kuroyukihime, should have been staying in Okinawa, the destination of the current school trip. And also, the time for this duel between Noumi and Haruyuki’s group had been decided just a little less than an hour ago in the real world. Even if she knew about the duel through some means, she shouldn’t have been able to return to Tokyo from Okinawa and come here in time.

As Noumi showered his shouts on her, Kuroyukihime shook her mask coolly, and spoke for the first time.

“So you’re «Dusk Taker». It seems like your pride yourself on your ingenuity, but…you’re still far too naïve. In Accel World, there exists infinite ways of fighting that you could never think of.”

Though she had a smooth and beautiful voice like silk, those words cut the virtual air into pieces with a sharp edge. Noumi took a half-step back.

“I did not return to Tokyo, and neither did I need to…Let me remind you of one of Brain Burst’s basic rules. In the «Normal Duel Field», there is a time restriction of 1800 seconds and a movement restriction within an area boundary. However, in the «Unlimited Neutral Field», neither of those restrictions applies. That’s why it’s «unlimited». Listen carefully…”

*HYUU* Cutting in front of her with her right hand’s sword, Kuroyukihime declared awe-inspiringly.

“In this world, Okinawa and Tokyo are connected to each other! …It seems you’ve finally realized. That’s right, I Dived into this field from Okinawa, and ran all the way to Tokyo. Although it took 15 hours for me to tame that Divine Beast-class Enemy from just now and come all the way to here. Even so, in the real world, it was only just under a minute at the most.”

“……Wh, at…?”

As Noumi gasped in astonishment, Haruyuki’s own shock also increased.

—Certainly, during the many times I’ve visited the Unlimited Neutral field until now, I always thought about how far this world must extend. I never thought of trying confirming it with just a vague question either, but the answer is actually simple. That is, it «extends to the limits of the Social Camera Network», which acts as the medium for Accel World. In other words, it extends across all of Japan. From Hokkaido in the north, to Okinawa in the south.

But, who on earth would think of traveling across that vast world with their body alone? This wasn’t a VR world used for safe sightseeing. It was a place of death where huge Enemies strode about, with just one of them capable of kicking about dozens of Burst Linkers at once.

Yes, all except for this one person.

“……Sen, pa…i.”

Haruyuki leaked out a blurred whisper. Hot tears spread and spilled out beneath his cracked silver face.

Kuroyukihime turned her gazed once again towards Haruyuki, and revealed the hint of a smile for the first time. However, it quickly disappeared and she then turned to look at the master of the vise that was restraining Silver Crow—the laminated avatar.

*KIN!* A sharp metallic sound. At the same time, white sparks flashed in the dark night.

After the black plates restraining him disappeared, Haruyuki realized a little late what had happened just now.

Without moving her avatar at all, Kuroyukihime had fired a long-range attack with mind power just by cladding only her right arm in a faint light. The laminated avatar had similarly intercepted it with mind power. Therefore, the image of the vise that was restraining Haruyuki had been cancelled and vanished.

*KIN, KIKIN!!* Three more flashes burst through the air. The visual phenomenon itself was small and meager, but the hugeness of the fired attack’s power was displayed as Haruyuki felt the field under his body shake heavily.

While gulping down a breath as he felt that power, he felt no surprise that Kuroyukihime, a king, could use incarnate techniques. Because a technique of such terrifying power had already been demonstrated to him by Niko, whose career as a Burst Linker was overwhelmingly shorter than hers despite also being the same Level 9.

However, there was something bottomless about the laminated avatar as well, who was directly fighting against that Kuroyukihime’s technique.

Black Lotus stopped her attack as if she had just finished a greeting, and then asked a short question.

“What is your name?”

From a location about 20 meters away from her, the laminated avatar titled its head composed of parallel plates as if puzzled. Just as until now, a quiet voice similar to his elementary teacher’s flowed out.

“…There is no meaning in giving my name here. But, a king like you has gone through all the trouble of coming here from far away, after all. It would be rude if I didn’t at least give a self-introduction, wouldn’t it?”

Making a ‘HYUHYU’ sound, many black plates rose up from the shadows at the avatar’s feet, and arranged themselves in the form of his right arm that had been missing until now. That was without a doubt the vise that had been restraining Haruyuki up until now.

The avatar placed that right arm over his chest, bended his waist and bowed. Again, his voice resounded.

“I am the vice-president of the circle[5] «Acceleration Research Society»…known as «Black Vise». I look forward to being acquainted with you from now on.”

—Since the moment he had seen that color, Haruyuki had possibly expected it slightly.

However, when he actually heard his name, he still felt a huge shock, as expected.

Black. «Black of Pure Color».

It was a color that he had believed and never once doubted until now that it was entitled to only Black Lotus. No, before that, Haruyuki had never once heard of a color name, which all Burst Linkers were given, repeating with more than one person within Accel World.

In opposition to Haruyuki who was widening his eyes in astonishment, Kuroyukihime herself did not display any agitation. She just let out a light breath, and spoke.

“Hmph, so it’s not a legion, but a «circle». That gives off quite sense of care.”

“I’m sorry, it’s what you would call the policy of our club.”

“I can’t stand the name as well, of course, but…more than that, what I must really repay you for is how you’ve been harshly tormenting my legion members. Of course, I’ll return it to you twofold.”

Her bluish-purple eyes let out an intense light. An aura of the same color clad the swords of both her arms.

In response, the laminated avatar—Black Vise spread out his arms in a movement that lacked any feeling of tension.

“How troublesome. The one that mainly wounded your comrades wasn’t me but Taker-kun, though. But well, I guess I’m not in a position where I can tell you to overlook it…right?”

One of his leisurely lowered arms became clad in a thin ink-colored aura, and immediately after many of the plates that composed it silently came apart and sank down into the shadows at his feet as if sliding.

“Se…”

‘It’s dangerous!’ Haruyuki shouted out. However, by then, two plates had already jumped out at Kuroyukihime’s feet and stuck her between them on her left and right at a speed that eyes couldn’t follow.

*GAAN!* The plates crashed into her arms. The thin plates then immediately increased their volume and changed into huge lumps. This was Black Vise’s incarnate technique, «Static Pressure». Having harshly tasted that fearful pressure which completely stops the movements and voice of the avatar caught in it, Haruyuki forgot the pain going through his own body as well and tried to shout out again. However, before he could do that.

*PIKIN* A clear sound resounded.

And then blue lines crossed through the two jet-black lumps.

Haruyuki watched dumbfounded as the lumps slide apart to the left and right from their middle, and fell onto the ground gravely. Appearing from inside that, Kuroyukihime spoke as if nothing had happened with her arms spread out slightly.

“Unfortunately, physical restraints aren’t effective against me.”

The cut-apart cuboids returned to being plates and sank down into the ground. Then, the sword of Kuroyukihime’s right arm spouted red flames.

She drew back her arm casually, and then—

“«Vorpal Strike[6]»!!”

Along with that coldly shouted name technique, she released a violent thrust.

The motion bore a strong resemblance to Kuroyukihime’s special technique «Death By Piercing». However, the range was in a completely different class. A crimson spear sent out from the sword charged at Black Vise standing far away along with a roaring sound accompanied by a metallic resonance.

In response, the laminated avatar that was dyed a lusterless black put up his left arm right in front of him as it became clad in a grey aura.

“«Layered Armor[7]».”

The plates of his arm came apart with a rattle and each turned into a big square. About ten plates lined up sideways in the space that separated him from Kuroyukihime, and blocked the path of the crimson spear in order to protect the main avatar.

*GAAAAAN!!* A dreadful crashing sound roared out, and the world shook.

The spear penetrated 90% of the defensive plates that acted as layers, and then stopped there. But, it didn’t disappear. While it didn’t pierce through the remaining plate, it jarred the surrounding space itself and shone strongly.

The two Burst Linkers that both had the name of black fought against each other with their mutual mind power, while standing with their right and left hands respectively stuck out.

While in this extreme situation, Kuroyukihime glanced at Haruyuki—and ordered him in a voice that was severe, and also gentle.

“Now then, stand up, Silver Crow. I've restrained this guy. You must defeat your own enemy…Dusk Taker.”

A second ago, Haruyuki had thought that he didn’t have any power left to fight inside him.

However, the words of the king of swords penetrated Haruyuki’s chest, as if even that was a kind of mind power, and relit the flames that had disappeared within him.

“…Yes.”

Although hoarse, he responded in a clear voice.

Haruyuki then bent the legs of his battered avatar, hit his fist into the ground, and stood up despite being unsteady. His remaining HP gauge was a little more than 30%.

After confirming that, he turned his face towards Dusk Taker who was standing a little further away from him, and Cyan Pile next to him.

Takumu, who had been pierced through the belly and had lost both his arms, was still hanging his head deeply as if his consciousness was being obstructed by pain. There were no eye lights within his mask. However, he was still there. He was alive.

And then, as if finally awakening from his shock, Dusk Taker slowly raised his right hand and used it to cover his face’s visor.

“……Fu, fu, fufu.”

From between those fingers, a derisive laugh that Haruyuki had heard many times until now thinly leaked out.

“Fufu. Really…you people are so repeatedly disgusting. Just how long do you intend to continue playing make-believe with things like ‘friends’ and ‘bonds’? You say you ran here from Okinawa? Fufu, that’s an insane sentence, good grief.”

*BUN* He shook off his hand. A faint wave surge coiled around his claws.

“But well, this saves me time—is what I should be saying. If I can crush this lifeless doll and the small insect over there, there will be only Black Lotus left. You might call yourself a king, but even you can’t fight against the two of us. Rather, this is a unique golden opportunity…Just like I did with that guy, I’ll challenge and kill you once every hour. Until you lose all your points. Fufu, kukukuku.”

Haruyuki didn’t hear most of those sneering words. His consciousness was only turned to Takumu who was deeply wounded, and Chiyuri who was still lying fallen farther away.

The spectacles of Noumi violating those two flashed through his mind’s screen. Chiyuri, who had had her arm cut off and screamed. Takumu, who had had his belly gouged and collapsed. What those two had felt wasn’t just virtual pain. It was the pain of having their friendship, their love being used and trampled over. The despair of having their most important thing soiled and destroyed.

Turning towards Haruyuki who was tightly clenching his fists and whose entire body was shaking, Noumi whispered in a consoling-like tone.

“But, please don’t worry. Because I’ll spare only her…Lime Bell. And it isn’t because I can’t steal her healing ability like that lifeless doll there triumphantly said. It’s because of Chiyuri’s loyalty. Her way of dedication is very praiseworthy, after all. I’ll treat her with as much love as possible from now on as well, hahahaha.”

“……”

From between his teeth that were clenched to the point of shattering, Haruyuki squeezed out words.

“……Noumi. You’re mistaken.”

“About what? Since when?”

Gazing at that darkness-colored avatar as he titled his head, Haruyuki calmly told him.

“About everything, since the beginning. When you entered Umesato Middle School…If you had challenged any one of us to a normal duel and said ‘Nice to meet you’, that would have been fine. If you had said you wanted to enter our legion, that would have also been fine. If you had done that, you would have gotten the things you really wanted. Friends, friendship, and bonds.”

In that instant.

Dusk Taker suddenly stopped moving. His voice, having underwent a complete change and now low and hoarse, came out from beneath his visor.

“…What, did you say? I? Want friends?”

“That’s right. You’re the same as me and Taku. You were oppressed, carried scars in your heart, and became a Burst Linker. In Accel World, you must have learned about it through duels. That in this world, there exist the genuine bonds that we wished for. Why weren’t you able to believe in that? Why did you depend on a fake power like the BIC? Even though you must have had the opposite of those choices available to you as well.”

Several seconds of silence passed.

Noumi suddenly gushed out a dreadful aura from his entire avatar. Haruyuki understood that it was a wave surge of unbelievable anger, and also that its source was the feelings confined in the depths of his heart.

“……In other words, you’re saying something like this?”

Noumi asked that in a voice that shouldn’t be a voice.

“‘I forgive you.’ ‘I pity you, so I’ll become your friend.’ ‘I’m deeply compassionate, so I’ll hold out my hand to help you.’ Is that what you mean?”

“No.”

Haruyuki immediately shook his head.

“I have no intention of doing something like that. It’s already too late for you and me to ever understand each other. Let’s end this, Noumi Seiji.”

Anger towards Noumi existed in Haruyuki too, of course. However, another feeling that was far stronger than anger became a super-hot blue flame and filled his entire body. It was determination. The resolute will to end everything here. That flame was too hot and burned so steadily, that it felt like it was in a still state instead. Like a star that shined quietly, coldly in the night sky.

In response, Noumi let out another short laugh, while still radiating anger like a raging hurricane from his entire body.

“…Fufu. I’m relieved to hear that. Even if I narrowly disposed of your avatar here, I would still never be able to forgive even the pathetic you in the real world…Very well, let’s settle things, Arita Haruyuki. There doesn’t need to be two flyers in this world.”

And then, he raised his right hand, clenched his fist, and suddenly pulled it back.

Synchronized with that movement, the black wings that had been always folded on his back until now spread out wide with a flap.

In response, Haruyuki also raised his right hand high in the air, opened up his palm, and recited.

“Equip, «Gale Thruster».”

*CHIKA* A sky-blue star flickered in the night sky. It poured down to the ground as two lasers, and collided with Haruyuki’s back. It stopped there while shining, acquired form, and finally produced a beautiful Enhanced Armament.

Dusk Taker spread his wings further and bent them strongly with a clench.

The booster on Silver Crow’s back began to make a loud driving sound.

The only existing two flight-type duel avatars in Accel World locked gazes for a single instant and stood still.

The one that kicked off the ground just slightly before the other was Noumi. He drew back his one remaining tentacle on his left arm like a tail, rang his membrane wings, and rose straight up with a silhouette that was clearly that of a demon.

After ascertaining Noumi’s trajectory and dropping his waist far down, Haruyuki—

“…Go!!”

Released all of his booster’s energy along with a sharp voice.

Blue jet exhaust flames burned the white ground. The amazingly powerful propulsion thrust made his small avatar take-off like a snap. He was immediately hot on the heels of the darkness-colored silhouette ahead of him.

Noumi glanced down, and flapped just one of his wings strongly. While rapidly swiveling around, he brandished his right hand.

“CHEEEEEE!!”

With a shrill yell, his purple wave surge became five long claws, and drew five long arcs through the air with them as the claws approached Haruyuki.

Haruyuki also brought together the five fingers of his right hand and shouted.

“Laser…Sword!!”

A sword of white light met and crashed into the purple claws from below.

The mixture was instant. The point of the light sword and the tips of the claws were both cut into parts, but both attacks still headed towards their targets like that with their remaining mind power and struck them.

A thick straight line cut appeared on Dusk Taker’s chest. And five thin cuts were engraved into Silver Crow’s chest, and scattered sparks of two colors. While gritting his teeth in sharp pain, Haruyuki continued ascending like that, and then spread out both his hands and went into free-fall when the energy gauge of his booster was emptied.

In exchange for possessing overwhelming propulsion thrust, the Enhanced Armament «Gale Thruster» that he had received from Sky Raker would consume its entire gauge once ignited. Dividing it into several take-offs or hovering by adjusting the propulsive force were also impossible. When he reached the peak of an upward trajectory, the only thing he could do after that was control the direction of the fall with the stabilizer equipped to the booster. And then about ten minutes were needed in order to refill the gauge.

But, through the use of «Movement Ability Expansion» mind power, Haruyuki could perform an override on the system with the thought of ‘I can fly’. Of course, he was nowhere near the level where he could actually fly just by thinking that. But now, when he has the Gale Thruster on his back, the system would shorten the gauge’s charging time in order to conform with the interruption caused by his imagination.

In other words, though he was still far from mastering the Incarnate System, Haruyuki could fly by combining the two powers of the «image of flying» that had been ingrained into his body through his experiences until now, and of the «Gale Thruster» which was a propulsion power prescribed by the system.

The problem was—that it takes about five seconds to activate the mind power for restoring the gauge.

And Noumi, who had already seen his mind power charge in their last duel, also knew that.

While falling, Haruyuki spread out both his hands wide and firmly visualized the image of flapping wings on his back into the sky.

Following Niko’s advice, he had considered naming this mind power as well in order to shorten the activation time. However, Haruyuki felt a strong reluctance to giving a «technique name» to the feeling of wishing for the sky and fixating that image.

That was because that wish was something that Haruyuki had continued to hide within the depths of his heart for a long, long time, and was also the core that the avatar Silver Crow had been born from. The only other thing that it could be called was a «hope».

Therefore, Haruyuki just silently prayed. That ‘I can fly’. That ‘Even if my wings were taken, even if I was hurt so much and made to crawl on the ground so many times, I still aim towards the sky’.

That prayer, however, was only a big chance to Noumi.

“As if I’d let you!!”

Shouting sharply, Dusk Taker flapped his black wings violently and rushed straight at him.

Haruyuki disregarded the ominous flying sound as he mustered all his force of will and completed the image.

A clear sky-blue color spread out within his chest. That Over-Ray was released as phantom wings from his back, flowed into the booster attached there, and changed into the fuel known as ‘will’.

*SUGA!* An intense shock was produced, and five claws gouged deeply into Haruyuki’s chest, intersecting with the cuts from earlier.

“Guh…”

Even as a great mass of sparks scattered out along with his groan, Haruyuki suddenly opened his eyes wide and grasped the tentacle attached to Dusk Taker’s left arm as he tried to fly away.

The wings that materialized «flight ability», when compared to his booster, certainly had a higher degree of endless freedom and flexibility. However, it still had a weak point. In compensation for its high mobility power, it lacked stability.

As his tentacle was pulled back by Haruyuki, Noumi lost his balance and fell halfway into a tailspin. Haruyuki used that momentum as well, swung with all his strength and instantly cut off the tentacle with his light sword. As the centrifugal force piled onto his propulsive power, Dusk Taker was blown away horizontally with violent force.

“Chiii!”

Leaking out an angry voice, he violently moved his wings in order to regain balance. But his control didn’t return so easily.

After facing his body towards him and sucking in a big breath—

Haruyuki shouted.

“Fl…yyyyyyy!!”

The Gale Thruster responded with an intense combustion noise.

Within the night’s darkness, Haruyuki became a blue shooting star and rushed upwards. The lights on the ground, the stars in the sky, they all dissolved radially, until only the figure of Dusk Taker was caught distinctly within his field of vision.

He drew aside his right hand. He arranged his fingertips.

Voicing the technique name was no longer necessary. The pure intention to pierce dwelled in his hand as light, trembling violently.

“O…oooooh——!!”

Sending out a yell, Haruyuki aimed the core of the radiated light and released the silver radiance.

“CHE…EEAAAH——!!”

Noumi, who had restored his posture just before that, met the attack with his right hand’s claws along with a shout.

A shrill resonance sound and exploding shock wave roared through the world.

The tip of the light sword was held back from five directions by the claws of nothingness and stopped. From the point of contact, intense heat and vibrations were emitted, and as they fought each other in the mutual stance of extending their right arms, their two masks were scorched.

“Uu, oh, oh!!”

Haruyuki gushed out all of the energy could from the booster, and tried to break through Noumi’s defense. The driving sound on his back increased endlessly. The flames that extended out so far from his back dyed the sky blue.

—A little more. It will reach if I push back a little bit more. My sword will reach this ultimate enemy. A little further…just a little bit further…!!

Even as he was within that accelerated sensation, he saw the energy gauge in the upper left corner of his vision rapidly decrease.

If this gauge was depleted, Noumi wouldn’t give Haruyuki the time to charge his mind power again, and would immediately cut him apart with his claws.

Before that could happen—pierce him!

“O…ooh…!!”

His overheated consciousness burned off his vision in white. However, Haruyuki mustered still more of his imagination and tried to pierce through the barrier before him.

The silver light firmly pushed into the nothingness. His gauge was mercilessly consumed.

Perhaps because he was concentrating too densely on high attack power, the field itself made a ripple-like effect and swayed. His sword of light pushed through the center of that little by little, little by little.

It reached. The point of his sword finally touched the palm of Noumi himself—

Immediately before that.

The last pixel that lit up his energy gauge vanished.

The combustion noise of the booster trembled, and the jet flames flickered intermittently.

Dusk Taker gave an insane smile beneath his visor.

At that moment—

‘……Come now, Karasu[8]-san. Just a little more.’

He heard someone’s voice, and a white hand was placed on Haruyuki’s right arm.

‘……Come on, keep at it. It’s just a bit further.’

A different voice resounded, and someone pushed Haruyuki’s shoulder.

“U…a…aaaaa——!!”

Gathering all the power he had left into a single point in his right hand, Haruyuki roared. Although it was only for an instant, huge flames gushed out from the booster whose gauge should have been depleted.

It pushed him up with the last of its propulsive power, and then his light sword finally broke through the barrier of nothingness. The five claws scattered into purple light and evaporated.

“What…”

As if to erase Noumi’s gasp just then.

*SHUKIIIIIIIN!!*

A loud sound resounded, and the sword of light that had had extended far tore apart Dusk Taker’s right arm in half, and shattered it into countless fragments.

“…Raaah!!”

Haruyuki’s consciousness was so exhausted that it was a wonder that he could still move. Even so, before falling down from that high altitude, his body moved half-automatically and he pierced using his entire strength the enemy’s chest with a left hand thrust.

The light of his mind power was so weak that it almost couldn’t be seen, but his arm still pierced the darkness-colored avatar along with a heavy feedback, and came out slightly from Dusk Taker’s back.

“Guh…guuuh…!”

Noumi groaned as red-purple sparks scattered out from him, and he threw his head back.

—Just one more blow!!

If he received another heavy attack, Dusk Taker’s HP gauge would probably be depleted.

However, at that moment, Haruyuki would also certainly die as well.

That was because he had foolishly recharged his Gale Thruster again, and so he had no more power left to control his descent. His remaining HP was negligible, so if he crashed into the ground from this high altitude, the remainder would vanish all too quickly.

—But, still, that’s fine.

—If it becomes a draw between us and all the points get awarded to Cyan Pike. If I let Takumu take over my dream. My battle is pointless.

Spurring on his consciousness that would likely blow out any moment now, Haruyuki raised his right hand high to strike.

The final attack against the black visor of the enemy that had similarly almost fainted now—

The moment he tried to strike,

He heard a voice.

“Citron Call!!”

The voice that he had heard the most in the world, probably even longer than that of his parents. The voice that he would laugh with, play with, and sometimes fight with, but then quickly reconcile—

As if attracted by it, Haruyuki looked at the ground.

A pillar of beautiful emerald light rose up from the bright green colored avatar standing quietly in the schoolyard, and enveloped Dusk Taker.

The sound of countless bells spread through the night sky.

As if it were an angel’s blessing, it healed the twilight-colored avatar. His cracked and scorched armor regained its gloss. His lost arms regenerated.

A momentary but far too deep despair enveloped Haruyuki.

Behind the black spherical visor, red-purple eyes blinked, and then became strongly relit.

“…Ku, kuha, hahaha.”

A high-pitched laugh.

“Hahaha! Ahahahahahaha!!”

At some point extending out his regenerated arms extremely high, Dusk Taker shouted.

“Look, isn’t this truly pure loyalty!? How is it…This, is power! This is how one rules others!! Friendship!? Bonds!? As if I need things like that!! Controlling by robbing!! That is the only absolute power!! Hahaha…Hahahahahahahahaha!!”

That loud and twisted laughter radiated from him as an aura, and dispatched purple electricity through the air.

“Now then…it’s time…to end this————!!”

From his ten ominously sharp fingers, a wave surge of nothingness extended far out.

Just as they tried to cut apart Haruyuki’s body—

At that instant.

The phenomenon occurred.

*PAH* An intense flash.

What was shining was the devil wings extending out from either side of Dusk Taker’s back.

The wings cracked as if they had changed into ultra-thin glass. With a cracking sound, they crumbled apart.

And disappeared.

“Wha……”

Noumi widened his eyes and gasped.

“Wh…y…Why are my wings disappe…”

Just before he finished speaking, the two avatars shook with a ‘GAKUN’. The flying power that had kept the two of them in the air until now was extinguished, and they began to fall while entangled with each other.

However, Haruyuki immediately felt something trying to restore him.

It was heat. A small heat that dwelled and gasped in both sides of his back and on the points of his shoulder blades.

Only Silver Crow’s falling speed slowed, and his left hand that had been piercing through Dusk Taker came back out.

The twilight avatar fell headlong towards the ground with both his arms spread out in astonishment.

In comparison, Haruyuki’s fall became even slower, until finally he felt like he was floating and stopped.

It wasn’t the Gale Thruster. With its gauge completely depleted, the Enhanced Armament was still silent.

That’s right—this sensation. This longing so great he wanted to cry, and this exaltation.

“……Ah, ah…”

At the same time as his voice leaked out, actual tears flowed down from his eyes.

The heat that dwelled in his shoulder blades rapidly increased in temperature. The energy swelled, and swirled in search of somewhere to go. As if two bones inside him had awakened the memories of the organ they were equipped with.

Guided by something, Haruyuki put up his hands and crossed them in front of his body.

He clenched his fists. He put his strength into them.

“……Welcome back. Thank you.”

Giving that short whisper, he suddenly opened up his arms left and right.

*SHARAAAAN!!*

A noise more beautiful than any other sound was produced, and spread through the night sky.

Even without directly seeing it, Haruyuki knew. That ten metal fins that all reflected the moonlight and shone silver were unfolding out from his back and from either side of his booster.

Silver wings. The soaring power that served as the proof of Silver Crow’s existence.

He had finally returned. To his true form. To Accel World’s only flight-type duel avatar that had had been born from the scars in Haruyuki’s heart.

The instant that firm belief and feeling filled up his chest to the brim, another phenomenon occurred.

The gauge of the Gale Thruster, which had fused with his wings, shined as if they were linked together and automatically refilled itself.

‘Fly’, is what it felt like it was telling him.

Haruyuki nodded, drew back his right hand to his chest, and turned his body downwards.

Dusk Taker’s silhouette, which was still in the midst of falling, looked small over the center of the white field which spread out endlessly.

Although he had lost his wings, his HP gauge itself should have recovered due to the power of «Citron Call». His HP might be equivalent to the damage he would take from falling from such a high altitude.

—But, I’ll finish it before that.

Haruyuki spread out his silver wings as far as possible.

The fins began to vibrate minutely. A nostalgic propulsive power wrapped around his body.

At the same time, the Gale Thruster also lit up. It blue flames were reflected by the silver wings, shining beautifully.

After firmly holding his breath back along with the energy that was increasing at terrifying rate, Haruyuki shouted.

“Go…ooooooo——!!”

A silver aura spread out from his wings. Blue exhaust flames gushed far out.

*DOH!!* Shooting through the wall of air in an instant, Haruyuki flew.

It was probably a movement speed that no other avatar had attained since the beginning of Accel World. Adding the virtual gravity to the propulsive power of his wings and booster, Haruyuki rushed downwards as a streak of lightning.

Even with Haruyuki’s accelerated senses, it all happened in an instant.

Having changed into an arrow of light with his right hand, clad in a sword of mind power, at the tip, Silver Crow approached the falling Dusk Taker, touched him—and pierced through him.

*PAH* The twilight-colored avatar disintegrated out in a circle fashion from the center of his body.

Running through the mixture point without even touching any of those polygons, Haruyuki controlled his posture with his wings and turned his booster towards below him.

The propulsive power offset the momentum of his fall, decelerated it, and finally stopped him.

Immediately after, the bottoms of his feet touched the ground.

As Haruyuki then knelt down as if collapsing, a slightly late and heavy falling sound reached his ears.

He resisted the feeling of fatigue that was suddenly assaulting him, and raised his head.

There was the Umesato Middle School schoolyard, near the place where he had taken off from. A black lump was rolling on the ground a little ways away from him.

It was Dusk Taker. However, all that was left of him was just his head, his chest, and the short tentacles that were regenerating from his left shoulder. Behind his visor, his eyes were very weak and were flickering irregularly. Even if he had some HP gauge left, it had to be less than 10%.

Haruyuki got up in order to drag along his body.

After walking one, two steps, he heard a voice.

“……Wh, y…Why…did my wings, disappear…”

Noumi groaned that out as if that were more enormous shock than having his body blown away.

The one that answered him wasn’t Haruyuki.

“It’s because…my power isn’t «healing».”

Turning his face with a start, he saw Chiyuri—Lime Bell standing there. She was covering her flank that had a hole dug in it with her severed right arm.

And Cyan Pile was also standing next to her, still missing both his arms. Furthermore, Black Lotus and Black Vise could also be seen, still facing off against each other. They were standing on guard without any sign of inattention, but it seemed that they had both stopped their mind power attacks.

“Wh…at?”

Noumi muttered in a hoarse voice.

“If it isn’t…healing ability, then what are you saying it is?”

After staying silent for a while, Chiyuri replied quietly.

“…I always felt it was strange ever since I became a Burst Linker. Why was I given a power like «healing»? But…at fifth period on Tuesday, after I healed you for the first time, I realized it when I talked with Haru and Takkun. That time, Haru told me that when I healed you, I didn’t just restore your avatar’s wounds and HP, but also the mechanism of your right hand. I thought that was odd. That wasn’t healing, but repairing. And then…I realized and understood.”

After sucking in a big breath, the avatar of the color of new green leaves spoke clearly.

“My power isn’t «healing». It’s the «power to turn back time». I can turn back the time of the avatar I use my technique on. That’s why…I thought. ‘If I use this power, I can surely take back Haru’s wings. I can turn back Dusk Taker’s time all the way to before he stole Silver Crow’s ability’.”

——So that’s, how it was.

The instant he thought that, the inside of Haruyuki’s chest hurt strongly with a ‘ZUKIN’. Tears built up in his eyes once again.

—And yet, I doubted Chiyu once. I didn’t believe in my childhood friend, who was doing her best for my sake. I’m an idiot. A complete and utter idiot.

As Haruyuki hanged his head deeply in shame, a voice of resounding resentment reached his ears from the ground at his feet.

“……What…you betrayed me? You betrayed me, Lime Bell?”

While in a state where he had lost his body and was dying, Noumi shouted out as if his anger gave his power.

“Me, who made you win so much…me, who gave you such a vast quantity of points, you betrayed me!!”

“You’re wrong, I didn’t betray you.”

Chiyuri also responded in a voice that had regained just a little of its usual unyielding spirit.

“I healed you the first time because you threatened with that video. I obeyed you after that in order to level up my special technique and increase the amount of time I can turn back…And also to aim for this one chance today. I never once became your comrade!”

Once again, there was silence for a while.

The wrecked body of twilight-colored avatar trembled, and he suddenly gave a low laugh.

“……Fu, fufufu. Good grief…every single one of you people are just idiots. It’s disgusting just looking at your faces. I’m going back. I’ll distribute all of your real life information and leave the clean-up to someone else. I’ll transfer to another school and make my kingdom again there. —Now then, what are you doing, Vise? Quickly take me away and let’s retreat.”

The instant he heard that, Haruyuki quickly raised his head and looked over at the laminated avatar who was confronting Black Lotus over there.

The jet-black avatar slowly tilted his head—

And spoke quietly.

“That’s a problem. No matter what you might say, doing that is difficult in this situation, Taker-kun.”

“…Then put in some effort. If a main force member like me is gone, the «Research Society» will be troubled too. I may even leak information about the BIC.”

“No, I don't think I have to worry about that. Our BIC has been customized so that, if Brain Burst is lost, it will automatically deactivate the instant it detects that and then soon after dissolve into the cerebrospinal fluids and vanish, so tracing it is impossible. Besides…Taker-kun, you of all people should know. That an ex-Acceleration Ability User cannot interfere in any way with this world anymore.”

Haruyuki couldn’t grasp the meaning of Black Vise’s words at all.

However, Noumi raised his face with a start, and then glared at the full moon above—and suddenly shouted.

“Shit. Shit! Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!”

He yelled for a while, and scattered out even more words.

“I won’t accept it! I won’t allow such a development! Someone, anyone, come here! Save me! If you do, I’ll give you points!!”

—I’ve had enough.

The instant Haruyuki thought that, Takumu also looked at Haruyuki and spoke.

“…Let’s end it, Haru.”

“…Yeah.”

Nodding, Haruyuki started walking. In order to bring about a conclusion to everything.

Dusk Taker shouted out in a high voice the instant he save Silver Crow approaching him.

“St…Stop! I know, from now on, I’ll supply points to you people! It’s not a bad deal! I’ll even join your legion if you want!!”

Haruyuki raised his right hand while walking. A white glow extended out from his straightened fingers.

“Stop, don’t do it, I don’t want to lose it! My power! My «acceleration»!! Don’t, don’t…dooooooooooooooooon’t!!”

Dusk Taker sprang and turned over his over that consisted of only the top-half, and tried to get away by scratching the ground with his short tentacles.

Freezing his heart, Haruyuki held up his sword of light high, and—

Brandished it without hesitation.

*KAH* The air trembled, a thin line of light ran and extended to the white pavement tiles, and caught the crawling Dusk Taker.

The twilight-colored avatar was cut in half left and right down his exact center without a sound .

And immediately after, a huge red-purple column of flame spurted. Countless ribbons of light was released from the center of the flames into the sky, dissolved in the air and then vanished. All the ribbons were weaved with detailed digital code. It was nothing other than the final disappearance phenomenon of a Burst Linker that Haruyuki had only seen once before.

At this moment, the «plunderer» that had reigned over Umesato Middle School and trampled over Haruyuki and the others with overwhelming power, exited from Accel World forever.

The system font that declared the conclusion of the Sudden Death Duel shined red in the vision of Haruyuki, who was standing stock-still. A massive amount of Burst Points was added to his, and it continued with a message that said that rising to Level 5 was now possible.

However, neither the joy of victory nor a sense of accomplishment was born in Haruyuki’s chest.

Only the recognition that everything was over spread quietly through him and filled his entire body.

When he dragged along his ragged body and moved several steps over to Chiyuri and Takumu, he heard a resolute voice.

“——Now then.”

It was the voice of Kuroyukihime, who had been perfectly restraining the mysteriously Burst Linker «Black Vise» in a mind power battle until now.

“There are a mountain of things I’d like to ask you, but you probably don’t plan on talking. In that case, let’s settle this quickly.”

In response to that, the laminated avatar shook his head slightly.

“No, I’ve come to unpleasantly understand the true power of a king in these last few minutes. I can’t win at all, so I will be quietly exiting here.”

It was a quiet voice that showed how he didn’t think anything of how his comrade had been completely annihilated before his eyes. Kuroyukihime quickly raised her right hand’s sword and whispered in an increasingly-sharp voice.

“I also don’t have the obligation to overlook you saying that. I’ll cut you down first, and then slowly consider how to deal with you for the hour until you revive.”

“Scary, scary.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Black Vise continued speaking in an even more aloof manner.

“—But, my greatest ability is «running away», you know. Ah, one more thing before that. I know absolutely nothing concerning you people of the Black Legion. Even though I came here, it was only because I was requested to with a prepayment from Taker-kun. Naturally, I didn’t receive any information of your real life information at all from him, and if possible I don’t want to ever have anything more to do with you from now on.”

“Too late.”

Retorting back coldly, Kuroyukihime wrapped a red aura around her right hand’s sword and a blue aura around her left hand’s sword.

Just after she took one step forward—

Suddenly, a strange phenomenon occurred.

Black Vise gathered the countless thin plates that constituted his entire body and collected them into a single plate in the middle with a ‘PATATATA’.

The only thing that existed there now was a single black plate—no, it was just a shadow. It looked it just barely had a form from Haruyuki’s position, but when it turned to the front, it was hardly possible to see it at all.

“Then, I bid you farewell.”

Immediately after hearing that voice, the thin shadow sank as if melting into the shadow of the school building that spread out beneath him. A ‘HYUU’ moving sound receded away at a high speed.

“—HAH!!”

Kuroyukihime swung her wight arm up with a yell.

A crimson line ran over the ground, collided with the school building, ran up it, and—

“Uah!?”

Haruyuki let out a voice of astonishment as he watched as the southwest corner of the chalk-like royal palace, which in the real world would have been a corner of the staffroom or principal’s office, was cut off and collapsed hugely.

Mixed in among the countless smashed white objects, a single small black plate was blown high up and away, pierced the ground further away in the schoolyard—and transformed into a single arm and rolled over the ground.

But, nothing else happened. The arm also immediately turned into countless polygons, dispersed and vanished.

“…So he got away, huh.”

Muttering that, Kuroyukihime lowered her sword.

After gazing at that far too beautiful, heroic, and also transient form for a while.

Haruyuki shouted out a single word and started running.

“……Senpai!!”

He desperately ran with his avatar whose upper body armor had been blown away and furthermore had countless wounds running through it. Hearing his footsteps, Kuroyukihime turned around.

Stopping right in front of her, Haruyuki grasped both his hands tightly.

“Senpai…senpai…I…I……”

He couldn’t say anything more than that.

Kuroyukihime gazed at the shining Gale Thruster that was fused with his wings on Haruyuki’s back for a while.

Her violet-blue eyes blinked, and she nodded her head deeply. She then lifted her right hand’s sword, clapped Haruyuki’s shoulder with its ridge, and spoke.

“—You really did you best. I’ll have a detailed talk with you after I return to Tokyo tomorrow. For now, take a good rest.”

And then her gaze move to behind Haruyuki’s back. There, Cyan Pile and Lime Bell also stood together.

“You also fought well, Takumu-kun. Thank you for all your efforts today. And also…Kurashima-kun, no, Chiyuri-kun.”

There, Kuroyukihime did an unexpected action. She suddenly bowed her head to Lime Bell.

“—Truly, thank you. If you hadn’t told me about this, I wouldn’t have been able to run here.”

“Wha……”

“What!?”

Haruyuki and Takumu both cried out at the same time.

“T-Told you…wait, Chiyu, you!? Told Kuroyukihime-senpai!?”

“That’s right!”

Brandishing her left hand’s bell, Chiyuri shouted in her usual spirited voice.

“You guys probably wondered for what purpose I expressly came to see you. It was of course in order wait for you to specify the true duel time and then send it to Kuroyuki[9]-senpai!”

“Eh…eeh…w-wait a minute…”

While sputtering that out, Haruyuki desperately turned the wheels in his already tired brain.

Immediately before Diving into the Unlimited Neutral Field, and after sending Noumi the last of the postponement messages, Haruyuki had certainly said it. ‘All right, we’ll Dive in one minute.’

The instant Chiyuri had heard that, she had pushed the transmit button for a message addressed to Kuroyukihime, which she had maintained in her virtual desktop beforehand. Having received the message in Okinawa, Kuroyukihime had Dived immediately into the Unlimited Neutral Field, captured a flying horse Enemy, and dashed intently towards Tokyo for 15 hours—or so is what must have happened.

As Haruyuki and Takumu looked at each other dumbfoundedly, Chiyuri’s voice continued showering them.

“Because I was anxious entrusting things to you obstinate boys, I sent an email to senpai the moment you guys decided to do this duel, and told her about everything that happened until now. Then, I got a reply saying ‘I’ll run there through the field, so specify the exact time’. It was really irritating waiting at Haru’s house, wondering when you’d finally decide the time!!”

“So…Sorry…”

After murmuring that, Haruyuki did a big shake of his head once—

And then first turned towards Kuroyukihime, and bowed his head very, very deeply.

“Thank you very much, senpai. To have traveled as long as 15 hours to come save us…When I saw senpai on the roof, I was extremely moved…and happy.”

“I think I was tried to show off a little too much there.”

As Kuroyukihime shrugged her shoulders, Haruyuki responded with a smile while holding back tears.

Next, he looked at Chiyuri, and bowed his head once again.

“……Thank you, Chiyuri. If only me and Taku had been here, we would have definitely lost. Truly…thank you.”

His throat was blocked and his voice trembled.

“…Geez.”

Chiyuri’s voice as she responded was also quietly wet. However, his childhood friend continued in a brighter tone.

“I’ll get very anxious from now on if it’s only the two of you, so…I guess I’ll have to join Nega Nebulas as well.”

“Eh.”

“C-Chii-chan.”

Now ignoring the two boys as they raised their voices, Chiyuri turned around to face Kuroyukihime, and tilted her head as if shy.

In response to that, Kuroyukihime also nodded, and then quickly operated her BB console.

Chiyuri didn’t hesitate at all as she pressed the ‘legion joining’ request that was probably displayed in her field of vision.

And then, the jet-black and bright green female-type avatars each took a step forward—

And made their sword and bell bump together with a loud pitch.

As Haruyuki merely watched that spectacle silently, a whisper from Takumu standing next to him reached his ears.

“…It seems we were worried about nothing.”

“…You got that right. But…I’m glad. I’m so glad…really…”

Haruyuki also unconsciously extended his arm, and firmly held Cyan Pile’s shoulder.

While receiving Accel World’s blue moonlight, the four Burst Linkers remained standing there like that for a while.

However, eventually, Kuroyukihime raised her head, and ordered her subordinates in a refreshed voice.

“Now then…Let’s go back. To the real world.”

After withdrawing from the Unlimited Neutral Field through Koenji Station’s portal, Haruyuki returned to his home’s living room in the real world.

Although the duel had followed unexpected developments one after another, the total time that had passed wasn’t even an hour. In other words, on this side, it had been an event that had lasted a mere three seconds.

However, the instant he returned to his real body, Haruyuki felt like so immensely fatigue that he was on the verge of falling prostrate over the table. He endured it, and raised his head.

Once he readjusted the focus of his blurred vision, he saw Chiyuri’s face there, also blinking her eyes incessantly in the same manner.

The two of them locked gazes for just a moment. Just that made something hot well up in his chest and made his eyes nearly wet, so Haruyuki opened his mouth hurriedly.

“……It would have been fine if you told us.”

Then, next to him, Takumu also spoke while shaking his head slightly.

“That’s right. About getting in touch with master…no, before that, if you have told us that you had joined forces with Noumi for the sake of getting back Haru’s wings, we wouldn’t have needed to worry like that.”

As the two boys used a reproachful tone because of their own self-reproach over doubting their childhood friend, Chiyuri made a show of giving a big sigh, and then responded in an amazed voice.

“Hey, I told you before! I only had once chance to turn back Dusk Taker’s time with «Citron Call»! Even if the chances of it were one in ten thousand, I couldn’t afford for Noumi to notice. I didn’t think it was possible, but if Noumi had placed something like a bug-tapping application or device on me, he would find out the instant I explained it to you!”

After the two boys gulped and looked at each other, Haruyuki mumbled dumbfoundedly.

“Y-You thought that far…Even though you’re Chiyu…”

“Wait, what’s that supposed to mean!!”

Shouting and getting up from her chair with a ‘GATA’, Chiyuri went around the table in order to jab Haruyuki.

But then, she collapsed to the floor as if dizzy, so Haruyuki and Takumu also hurriedly stood up and knelt down in front of Chiyuri.

“C-Chii-chan, are you okay!?”

In response to Takumu’s question, she nodded her head lightly while still hanging her head—

And then Chiyuri suddenly whispered in a delicately trembling voice.

“……I did my best.”

*POTA* A single drop of water made a sound on the flooring carpet as it fell down.

“……It was very tough, but…I did my best. I really did my best, so……”

*POTAPOTA* The drops that fell one after another shone beautifully like jewels on top of the floor.

Haruyuki felt his chest prick, and this time spoke quietly in a voice that was trembling deeply.

“Yeah…Thank you. Truly, thank you, Chiyu.”

Heaving one great sob, Chiyuri raised her face that was overflowing with tears and suddenly jumped at their two necks with a ‘GABA’. She strongly drew close Takumu with her left hand and Haruyuki with her right hand, and shouted while pressing all three of their heads together strongly.

“I love you…I love you both!!”

And then, Haruyuki also firmly held his childhood friend’s back as she started sobbing like a child.

Unable to hold it back any longer, his own tears flowed out. Takumu also followed as something shined on his cheeks from under his glasses.

These three, who had been born in the same year and grew up in the same place, continued shedding their respective tears like that for a long time.

References

Chapter 10Night.A huge pale disc shone brightly in the black sky.The ground, the buildings, everything was a white stripped of color. It wasn't colorlessness, but the color of dry bone. Square houses casted distinct shadows over the wide road. Over there, the Shinjuku sub-center, which had changed into a spiral-formed chalk spire, rose so high it seemed to pierce the sky.The Moonlight stage, huh.TakumuCyan Pile murmured that after looking around at this virtual world's Western Tokyo.Haruyuki also quickly listed the features of this stage that he remembered.It's bright, but you can see almost nothing within the shadows. Sound carries over a far distance. There are few Enemies. Trap-type terrain effects also don't existIn open spaces, unexpected attacks from hiding places are almost impossible. Using the school campus was a correct choice after all.After nodding to each other, they glanced behind them.In this empty white space whose was basis the living room of the Arita home, the vivid emerald and shining Lime Bell stood silently as well beneath the moonlight.There was no change in her outward appearance since they had seen her on Tuesday. However, by doing an enormous number of duels over only two days and winning completely in all of them, she had already reached the same Level 4 as Haruyuki and Takumu.Though, because there had been an interminably long time since they had become Level 4, there was probably a wide difference in total point acquisition between the two of them who would soon reach Level 5 and Chiyuri, but her potential at least must be equivalent to theirs.While catching up that close to them in a short period of time, Chiyuri who served as Noumi's healer/bait had surely been exposed to all kinds of attacks from countless Burst Linkers. Haruyuki also understood just how painful those harsh, difficult experiences must have been.However, Chiyuri stood right in front of the two of them with movements that didn't betray her fatigue at all, and she spoke only a short sentence.Let's go.And then, without hesitating, she jumped down from the high terrace that corresponded to the 23rd floor of the original apartment building. She descended from slightly lower terraces and decorated scaffolds to the ground. There was not a fragment of newbie awkwardness in her movements either.Haruyuki and Takumu looked at each other once again, and after reflexively smiling bitterly, they also jumped down in the same way.The three of them avoided the main road they usually used when commuting to school, and instead went by back roads at a half-run. While paying attention to their surroundings, Haruyuki and Takumu destroyed suitable objects and filled up their special technique gauges.They didn't go straight into the school, but first came out onto the roof of the family restaurant on the other side of Oume Street, and confirmed the status of the dual location from behind cover.Umesato Middle School had changed into a form like a European palace from the Middle Ages. In what could be described as Gothic-style, huge pillars were placed in a row in the front, and many statues of angels or demons protruded out from the surface of the walls.After concentrating his eyes to see that there were no other duel avatars there and confirming that everything there was made of stone, Haruyuki looked at the schoolyard once again.The large grounds had become a garden intricately covered with small tiles. There were no objects there at all, and only a spear-like tower that stood at the southern endoriginally the support pole of a ball fence had a long and thin shadow that stretched over the ground.There doesn't seem to be anyone hidden there.Haruyuki murmured that, and Takumu nodded.YeahBut, Noumi isn't there eitherHis Dive should only have been delayed by half a secondIf he doesn't come after five minutes, let's temporarily retreat away from Koenji StationNo, wait.At that moment, a very faint wind noise reached Haruyuki's ears. Since the stage was completely still, something must be moving the air. A flying-type Enemyor, a flying-type avatar.As Haruyuki quickly looked up to the sky in the southwest, his whole body hardened the instant he looked.A silhouette was approaching in the night sky filled with small twinkling stars while being palely illuminated by the moonlight.A thin body. Claws on his hands. And devilish wings extending out on his back.NoumiAs Haruyuki groaned that name out unconsciously, the avatar started descending as if being pulled by his voice. He folded his arms, drew a graceful spiral through the air and alighted down in the center of the schoolyard.His landing was almost silent. Just by seeing that manner and posture, Haruyuki could tell that Noumi had already completely mastered the operation of flight ability.This avatar with the attribute of robbing slowly folded his wings and stopped moving there.Once again, complete silence filled the world.Haruyuki's sense couldn't grasp any changes either. No movements of stealthy approach, no footsteps creeping in at a blind spot, nothing.After waiting more than a full minute, Haruyuki whispered.Let's go.After Takumu nodded next to him, they rose at the same time and jumped down to the road. Hearing their footsteps, Dusk Taker quickly turned his face towards them.While he gazed right at them, Haruyuki and the others entered the grounds of Umesato Middle School through the gate, and then went around the end of the school building and headed towards the schoolyard.The footsteps of the three of them make a hard sound on the tiles. The moonlight clearly etched their shadows into the ground.Chiyuri did not go into the schoolyard, but instead walked along the southern wall of the school building and then stood quietly within its shadow. Haruyuki and Takumu headed straight towards the center of the wide space.Stopping about 20 meters away from Dusk Taker who was standing in the center, Haruyuki threw a silent look at him.After taking that look for a few seconds, Noumi unfolded his arms in front of his chest and lightly spread them out left and right.Just like I said you could extend the time as many times as you wished, I'm definitely the only one here!The boy's voice, which was tinged with a metallic effect, resounded lightly through the pale world.I didn't think you would prolong it so long, senpai! Is that being cautious, or distrustful, I wonder?It's because we've already learned that we can never be careful enough against you.After letting out a short Kukuku' laugh at Haruyuki's retort, Nomi stuck out his right hand in front of him.There was a card in between his fingertips. It looked similar to the item that the Yellow King, Yellow Radio had used before to replay a video of the past, but this one was red like blood. Haruyuki had heard that the special items sold at the shops within the Unlimited Neutral Field were mostly in the form of cards like that.Noumi showed it to Haruyuki and Takumu, and then spoke.This is, just as its names says, a Sudden Death Duel Card. It cost a fairly high price, but consider it my treat.He gave another Kuku' laugh.First, I charge all of the points I have into this. The remaining two dueler frames are set as a team, so you two need to bet your respective points as well. If both of you have survived by the time my HP gauge reaches zero, all of the points charged into it will be equally distributed to you two. If only one of you remains, the winner takes it all. And when I beat the two of you, I'll get all your points.In other words, in the case that the two of us survive together, we won't have to fight each other, right?Exactly. Well, this is a little bit of consideration. It's importantNoumi brandished the card around once again, and spoke.This duel won't end until someone dies. And those that die will definitely lose Brain Burst. There is no exception to this at all. I'll say this now, but if you retreat through a portal, it will be treated as your loss at that moment. At the same time as you return to reality, the forced uninstall will activate.I see.Nodding, Haruyuki looked at Takumu.Cyan Pile's eyes shined strongly behind the slits on his mask for a moment, and he firmly nodded his head.All right, that's fine.Noumi slowly nodded to Haruyuki's words, and then touched the card with the fingertip of his left hand. After he operated it a bit, the card shined a bright crimson for a moment.He then threw the card to Takumu, who caught it and touched it the same as Noumi had done, causing it to shine again.Takumu threw the card to Haruyuki, who then held it between the fingers of his right hand.After taking a big breath, he clicked on it with his left hand. A holo-window was displayed in the center, and he touched the charge button.After the explanation of the Sudden Death rules in a blunt font flowed down the screen, a confirmation dialog of Yes/No appeared. Yes.When the exceedingly blunt Brain Burst system then once again asked the usual Is this really okay?', Haruyuki finally understood the reality that this was the edge of the edge of the point of death. Though he should have been detached from his real body, his back quickly grew cold. At the same time as his limbs became numb, virtual adrenaline was released into his blood vessels.However, of course, he chose Yes.The card shined an even more dazzling blood-like color andit lifted up from Haruyuki's hand and floated up to a slightly higher position.The digital numbers of a countdown slowly rotated around it.If this duel was made widely known in Accel World, an amazing number of gallery viewers would surely gather here. Although half a year had passed since Haruyuki had become a Burst Linker, he hadn't heard any talk about something like a Sudden Death Duel where you betted all your points.No.That's not right. He had heard of it.The king of swords who Haruyuki respected and admired more than anyone else, The Black King Black Lotus. As part of the special rule that was imposed only on Level 9 Burst Linkers, she was always fighting while carrying the possibility of sudden death. That's right, for example, in the weekly territory battles, if the other kings were to arrange meticulous preparations and appear there. If she were to lose to one of them. That person would immediately undergo the permanent loss of Brain Burst.Senpai. You must always be living under this kind of pressure.One second after he murmured that within himselfThe countdown reached zero.The blazing letters that flared up said Duel Start'.Dusk Taker widely hoisted up the claws of his hands.Haruyuki also lowered his waist and prepared his hand-swords in front and behind him.Noumi's wings remained folded, and he didn't show any signs of taking out his purple wave motion attack. He must first wish to have a ground battle of incarnate techniques.That's just fine with me!Crying that out within his mind, Haruyuki then kicked off the ground.He dashed fiercely in order to close the 20-meter distance between them at once. The enemy's silhouette in the center of his vision rapidly became larger.He crossed over the shadows of the poles that stretched over the white courtyard. One pole, two polesWhen he stepped on the shadow of the third pole, it happened.From the darkness of a thin shadow no more than 10 cm wide which shouldn't have been able to hide anything, something sprang up as if gushing out and approached Haruyuki from his left and right.They were square plates that seemed to be about 1 meter long on each side. These two dim deep black plates rose up like springs the moment that Haruyuki had stepped on the shadow of the poll, and squeezed him between them from both sides with a tremendous force.Even with Silver Crow's speed, he was not able to avoid them. He could only spread out his hands and press them against the surface of the plates with all his strength.*GAAN!*A metallic sound resounded, and sparks flew from the joints of Haruyuki's arms. The HP gauge, which was the only thing he could see, decreased slightly.GuhHe involuntarily cried out from the sharp pain. Although they were ultra-thin plates that were less than a few millimeters thick, they had a frightful pressure that pressed hard on him in a huge vise. He couldn't extend his arms out at all, so he adjusted the position of his hands and desperately resisted with the armor of his elbows and hands. However, the plates instantly crammed Haruyuki into a 50 cm wide gap, and then finally stopped in that position.*GISHI, GISHI*While hearing the sound of his avatar creaking, Haruyuki forcibly shook off his shock and thought.There are no traps in the Moonlight stage. Then, is this an unknown special technique of Dusk Taker!? No, if it were, there would definitely have been some kind of motion or voice command on his part in order to activate it. Besides, if he had such a powerful technique, he would have used it in our last duel. In that caseThis jet-black board was not Noumi's technique. Of course, it wasn't Lime Bell's either.In other words, there was someone else on this battlefieldNo, that's impossible. There shouldn't be anyone who could have performed an ambush in this duel that was repeatedly postponed so many times until just before it began.When his instantaneous thoughts had reached that far, as if to betray his thoughts all too quickly, Haruyuki sensed a very faint presence.His gaze was drawn to the left, in the direction of the school building.The northernmost end of the white schoolyard was sunken darkly in the shadow produced by the 4-storied school building. The figure of Lime Bell who was crouched down alongside the wall looked small in comparison.Haruyuki, and Takumu as well behind him, watched without speaking as a fifth avatar silently appeared right in front of her from the nearly-pointed tip section of the school building's shadow.Strange.That was the only word to describe its appearance. Haruyuki had never once a duel avatar that had a stranger form than this in Accel World.Its whole body was made out of thin plates arranged perpendicularly. It was as if many sheets of rectangular clipped paper had been piled in the form of body parts. Since gaps of approximately 1 cm existed between each plate, although its silhouette could be seen distinctly from the side, it only looked like thin vertical lines placed perpendicularly from the front.Also, all of the dozens of plates that constituted the avatar were dyed a dim black as if they were smeared in ink.To Haruyuki, he didn't know if it was the avatar's modeling or its color that was more shocking.The laminated plate avatar was completely black no matter how he looked at it. It wasn't like the blackish avatars he had seen beforenot silver like Chrome Disaster, nor purplish like Dusk Taker. It was a perfect black which absorbed the light of all wavelengths and refused to be dyed.You.Haruyuki murmured that in a hoarse voice.However, the avatar didn't respond, but instead tilted its square head and stared at Haruyuki from inside its many gaps. In that instant, the pressure of the two plates on each of side of Haruyuki increased the pressure on his body. Silver Crow's armor made an unpleasant sound and creaked.At this point, Haruyuki finally noticed that the right arm of the laminated avatar didn't exist at all. Instead, a hazy grey light trembled at the end of its shoulder.Haruyuki didn't understand what kind of logic it used, but it was clear that its right arm was the two plates currently restraining him, considering both their color and form.And there was one more thing that was clear.This black avatar was an ambusher that Noumi had prepared. An ambush that should have been carefully eliminated after Haruyuki and Takumu examined all the possibilities.WhyHowIt should have been possible for the time to have been specifiedTakumu, who had remained standing behind him, cried that out like a groan.Even after he said that, the laminated avatar remained silent. Instead, the one that let out a short Kuku' laugh and spoke was Dusk Taker, who was standing several meters in front of Haruyuki.Fu, fu. Geez, you people make me enjoy myself time and time again. It's nice, that astonished-manner of yours. So much that it makes me want to pay a viewing feeSpeaking of which, what did you say a little while ago? We've already learned that we can never be careful enough against you'? Unfortunately, it seems that your diligence wasn't enough, haha, HAHAHAHA!!After letting out another short bout of loud laughter, he suddenly spread out his hands.Though I say that, since the two of you are in the position where you'll be losing all your points soon, it's meaningless no matter what you get at this point. At the very least, I'll let you in on the secret as a farewell gift. It isn't because I predicted the time you specified, but neither is it because the person over there waited on this side for months before we appeared here, of course.He further moved the talons of his right hand and tapped his head which had a lens-type visor fitted to it.The two of you already know thatwehave a Brain Implant Chip here. The BIC, that is to say a growth-type terminal is connected to the sensory area of our brains as a bio-electronic interface, butdepending on the programming, it is possible for it to reach the deepest parts of the brain.DeDeepest parts?As Haruyuki muttered that, Noumi nodded his head in an exaggerated manner.Yes. Naturally, it's extremely dangerous. Even I haven't gone that far. But, the person over there is quite daring despite his appearance. His terminal extends all the way to the thought clock control center of his brain.Thought clock.Those were the words that formed the basis of the super-technology which realized the acceleration of Burst Linkers. The Brain Burst program accelerates the user's thoughts by increasing the base clock inside the brain, which uses the person's heartbeat as the basis, by 1000 times. Whether it was Diving into the usual duel field or the Unlimited Neutral Field, that multiplication rate was fixed and couldn't be manipulated at all.In other words, since Haruyuki and Takumu had postponed the time of the duel for more than an hour, nearly two months of subjective time had passed in this world. Noumi shouldn't have a comrade that would help him by intently endure such a length of time and waiting in ambushthat was how it was supposed to be. However.I'll say it one more time. He dived into the Unlimited Neutral Field at 8 PM in real world time. However, he never had to wait so many months inside here. Listen wellBy deactivating his brain's thought clock control center by using the BIC, he can arbitrarily stop the acceleration of his thoughts. He's, in other words,the only Deceleration Ability User in all of Accel World!DecelerationAbilityHaruyuki didn't know whether those repeated words came out of his or Takumu's mouth.As Haruyuki couldn't find any other words to say, a new voice finally reached his ears.Good grief.It was the quiet voice of a youth, which seemed genial somehow even under the electronic effect that was characteristic of duel avatars. Haruyuki felt like it bore a strong resemblance to the voice of a young glasses-wearing male teacher that had been his only favorite homeroom teacher in his elementary school days.While still restraining Haruyuki with tremendous pressure, the laminated avatar spoke for the first time in a soft voice without any strain in it at all.Hey, Taker-kun. I can't help but feel that that talkativeness of yours was what bounced you around and drove you into a Sudden Death Duel situation like this.Haha, that is merely a difference of opinion. Like you consider silence as a weapon, I only consider eloquence as a weapon. So, how about their shocked faces? Doesn't it look like they've already lost the will to fight in the face of our technological capabilities?I don't know about that. That small kid there is still doing his very best to hang on. I can't crush him any harder than this.Hee, even if he's weakened, he's still a metal color after all.As Noumi let out a Fufufu' laugh, the laminated avatar signaled Noumi with a small movement of his left hand.Under these circumstances, my hands are full with pinning him in place. It would be helpful if you could tidy up the big one back there a little early than planned.Roger, roger. I don't plan to make you work more than the remuneration I paid you. Just give me three minutesno, thirty seconds.Those words of contempt by NoumiFinally relit Haruyuki's fighting spirit.Just thirty seconds? You, who has never won an honest match against Taku, in just thirty seconds!?Gritting his teeth hard, he ran his gaze over the plates on either side of him for a moment.This isn't a situation where I can remain restrained forever by such flimsy plates. If the enemy is two, our side is also two. I'll leave Noumi to Taku, and I'll take downthis guy!Haruyuki concentrated all of his consciousness that contained those thoughts into one point on his brow.Suddenly, a metallic high frequency sound was produced out of nowhere and Silver Crow's body shook. The feeling that his consciousness was connecting to the imagination circuit hidden within the Brain Burst program.The laminated avatar that was constantly restraining Haruyuki had a grey aura around his right shoulder. Niko had said that the phenomenon of continuously emitted light, in other words Over-Ray, was proof of the Incarnate System being in use. In other words, these plates were the incarnate technique of that avatar. In that case, he also had to muster all his strength and fight back.A white light was lit on Silver Crow's sharp fingertips.It quickly covered all the way from his wrist to the vicinity of his elbow in a pale light.Haruyuki sucked in a big breathand shouted out loudly the name of the incarnate technique that he had just recently named.LaserSword!!Then, he crossed his arms, and thrusted the fingertips of his right hand at the left plate and the fingertips of his left hand at the right plate.*GYAAAAAN!*Along with a high-pitched sound, his swords of elongated light crashed into the jet-black plates and threw off dazzling sparks.The parts that the swords ate into instantly became red hot as if they had been showered with the flames of a plasma arc. A glow rapidly spread over the surface of the thin plates, and they vibrated violently.At this rate, I'll break through them!!The moment he cried that out inside his mind and strained all of his image power.Oopsmy, my, this is serious.A calm voice was heard. Then,Static Pressure1.The call of a technique name.Suddenly the two plates rumbled with a GOGON!'.The thickness of the plates, which had only been a few millimeters, rapidly increased. Exceeding 5 cm, then 10 cm, they changed into something that would better called lumps than plates.The two huge cuboids, which had a texture that felt like it could cut darkness itself, poured pressure that easily exceeded the pressure from before onto Haruyuki.Guuh!While groaning like that, he mustered as much mind power as possible and resisted with his Laser Swords. However, even though it had looked on the verge of melting just a moment ago, the red hot portions were reduced by half the instant the thickness increased.An even stronger gray aura was being released from the laminated avatar's shoulder. It was already definite that this technique was not a special technique regulated by the system, but a incarnate technique derived from the image power of the enemy avatar.Through the imagination output of the two sides fighting each other, Haruyuki felt himself touch what filled the inside of the laminated avatar.Darkness.Unlike Noumi's mind power, it wasn't a hungry nothingness that sought to swallow everything. Although it certainly existed there, it didn't possess any kind of energy, and therefore did not give nor take, but instead rejected all interference. No, it wasn't even an active rejection. It was isolation. An absolute detachment that couldn't consider the state of people's hearts at all.The instant he felt that, Haruyuki reflexively feared coming into contact with it through mind power.His hand's Laser Swords weakened in that short instant and flickered.That was enough. Becoming tremendously heavy, the hard objects dug into Haruyuki's shoulders, and Haruyuki's movements were completely confined. Once again, he heard the voice of the laminated avatar.Hey, you. If you could, please remain quiet and still like that. The work I've been contracted to do only involves temporarily pinning you in place. I have no intention of fighting.Whatkind of selfish thing are you saying!Shouting that out sharply within his mind, Haruyuki once again raised the output of his Laser Swords. However, it took all his strength just to reduce the pressure of the black lumps slightly, and he couldn't push them back much more than that.While he was completely restrained and unable to move, the figures of two avatars slowly stepping up to each other came into Haruyuki's vision.From the west, with his slightly longer arms compared to his short-statured body handing loosely at his sides, was Dusk Taker.From the east, with the top of his right arm's pile driver shining sharply, was Cyan Pile.Both of them took a little distance and faced each other in the middle of the white schoolyard.An atmosphere of fighting spirit that was rapidly increasing filled the field and pushed up the density of the air. In this feeling of tension that trembled violently, Haruyuki could neither speak out nor pray for anything.Heh.Suddenly, Noumi spoke while idly waving his wrists.It seems you've made your own preparations. In that case, I should be able to enjoy myself a littleright?He then raised his hands and made his fingertips touch the front of his chest. A distorted IIIIIIN' vibrating was produced, and suddenly, a pulsating purple light gushed out strongly. It was Noumi's incarnate technique which Haruyuki and the others called the wave surge of nothingness. Haruyuki thought that he would immediately fly up and attack with long-range firepower, but it seemed like he intended to fight a ground battle, perhaps in order to mock Cyan Pile.Does that technique have a name?Takumu asked that in a calm voice. In response, Noumi answered with a laugh that made it seem like he was letting out a great breath.Hah, I don't have any reason to give names to my techniques. Although having no name for it seems to make the activation somewhat slower, I decline doing that kind of game-like behavior! BesidesHe spread out his hands wide. The wave surge light left a hazy trail behind it in the air.Is there any reason in you asking something like that? When you'll be losing Brain Burst in just a few minutes?There is a reason, of course. Because I want to remember, at least for a little while, the details about the opponent for whom I'll be performing their last rites over their corpse.Coldly retorting like that, Takumu moved his right arm's Enhanced Armament in a stance sideways in front of his chest.Haruyuki also knew that Takumu had done mind power training under the Red King Niko's coaching over a period of one week. However, he hadn't heard what kind of technique Takumu had obtained, nor even whether he had reached the level where he could use it in real battle.Despite being in a situation where he was stuck between two lumps and his avatar was screeching, Haruyuki wasn't able to stop himself from pouring his gaze intently on Takumu.Next, Cyan Pile lifted up his left arm as well, andHe did an action that Haruyuki didn't expect.With the fingers of his left hand, he strongly grasped the steel stake that stuck out from his Enhanced Armament.Taku, what the heck are you doing!?Haruyuki's eyes widened. That stake was the scar within Takumu's heartborn out of his memories of the cruel bullying he had received in kendo class when he was an elementary school student. It was the bamboo sword that had repeatedly poked his throat, and also a lethal weapon for the sake of piercing the throats of the guys who had bullied him.So why was he grasping its pointed tip himself?Takumu answered Haruyuki's question with his actions.Cyan Blade!!Following that shouted technique name call.*GASHUN!*The steel stake shot out. Haruyuki compulsorily expected the spectacle of the pointed end to blowing off Takumu's left hand. But.The thing that was blown away and scattered was the right arm's pile driver itself. Only the stake remained as a pale light while being grasped in his left hand. Takumu drew a big semi-circle with it and put it up above his head, and then brought up his now free right hand to hold it as well and swung it down in front of him.The light scattered, and what appeared out of it was.Namely, a sword.The blade extended up to one meter and a half. It was single-edged, but was completely straight, with a single deep indigo line running through it up to its point. The color of the blade was pale blue, and a faint glow of the same color was wrapped around the entire sword.Holding that beautiful weapon in stance, Cyan Pile was now, coupled with the color of his armor, nothing else except a complete close range-type duel avatar. No, it was a completed figure that could already be a swordsman.Taku.Haruyuki whispered that in a voice that didn't form into a real voice.As if heading his thoughts, Takumu looked at Haruyuki for an instant and nodded. Then, he once again turned to the front and directly put his right leg forward. He positioned his sword halfway up with the expert motion of a kendo fighter.A much more intense fighting spirit was blown out violently from that step, and the aura in Noumi's hands flickered.I see.Even after receiving that fighting spirit, Noumi muttered in a voice from which not much agitation could be externally seen. He then immediately let out a contemptuous laugh.Fufu, I see. It's because losing to me in a match was very mortifying, is that it? So you embodied those feelings into that kind of shoddy sword. But well, if it's a sword match that you wishit can't be helped, I'll go along with you for a little while.And then Noumi also made the gesture of grasping something with his hands, and took the exact same halfway up stance.Haruyuki watched feeling half-surprised and half-comprehending as the purple wave surge stretched out and took the form of a long sword. Noumi had once changed that wave surge into the form of long claws before. If it was a close-range weapon, it probably could change into various forms according to the image in his mind.Although having the outward appearances of their duel avatars, the two of them faced each other in the exact same stances as during the final match in the kendo club inner tournament last week. However, there was no referee here. Nor any protective armor. What hung in the balance was their very life as Burst Linkers.*JIRI*Both tiptoed forward and began to close the distance between them.In the space between their two sword points, actual minute white sparks burst out and burned the air.The battle had already started. Takumu and Noumi were fighting an Override2 battle between them to see which had the stronger imagination.Taku, believe in yourself!!Haruyuki shouted that out in his mind, and at that instant.SEEAAAAAH!!CHEEEEEE!!Two spirited cries resounded loudly on the moonlit night battlefield, and the two of them kicked forward off the ground simultaneously.Blue and purples trails were brightly drawn through the air, and their two swords crossed each other from the front.*GAKIIIIN!*An intense impact sound. Takumu's mind power which embodied the true nature of a sword, cutting power, hit away Noumi's mind power that tried to shave off everything. These swords that greatly repelled each other swung down at the same time. Again, a thunderous sound and sparks occurred. And again once more.Then, the two of them took distance from each other and confronted each other while taking up their halfway up stances again.From Dusk Taker's mask, a mocking voice leaked out.My, my, this is surprising. You're really doing your best to use that hastily improvised sword, haven't you?Of course. When it's a kendo match without cheating, I'm stronger than you after all.Noumi laughed in a Kukuku' throaty voice in response to Takumu's retort.I wonder about that, senpai. Do you think I wouldn't notice? It's obvious no matter how you try to hide it! Youhave a fatal habit!!While shouting that out, Noumi sharply stepped forward. The length of the purple sword grasped in his hand increased and extended with a SUUUU'.Taking into account the force of the momentum from the lengthening of the bladeDusk Taker savagely shot out a thrust, aiming at Cyan Pile's throat.CHEIIIIIIN!Takumu's arms sprang up as if convulsing and tried to protect his throat with his blue sword's blade. But at that instant, Noumi's sword moved like a fencing fleuret and changed the trajectory of its thrust.*BYUUH!*An ear-hurting vibrating sound resounded, and the tip of the purple sword mowed down through the empty space on Cyan Pile's right side.Noumi cut his way forward like that. As if chasing that trajectory, a single pale spark flowed from Takumu's wound.GuhImmediately returning to his body immediately despite the groan, Takumu chased after Noumi. He let out a series of unstopping attacks at Noumi's forearm, other forearm, face and eyes. But the purple sword twisted like a living thing and precisely repelled the attacks.Come on, come on, is it really all right, not protecting your neck like that?Once again, a BYUO' roar was emitted and Noumi's sword thrusted out. It didn't miss the moment when Takumu's movements hardened for an instant, and this time the left side of his abdomen was cut up.Taku, hang in there!!Haruyuki shouted that out within himself while fighting desperately against the black vise he was in.The scars of Takumu's heart. That was the memory of bullying he received in his kendo class as an elementary school student. Having been used as a practice stand for thrusting while having his arms bound behind his back had been humiliating to him, and more than that produced an overwhelming fear in him.However, Takumu did not give up kendo. Takumu himself had said that it was because he didn't have the willpower to give it up, but that wasn't it. He continued it because he liked kendo. His love for it exceeded his fear. Those feelingsBelieve in those feelings, Taku!!He couldn't have heard Haruyuki's voice. However, Takumu readjusted his staggering body andHe lifted up the sword in his hands. Higher than his neck, and far above his head.A blue aura even bluer than the moonlight wrapped around not only the sword that was positioned above his head, but also all the way from his arms to his shoulders.Noumi glared from below at Takumu as his mind power's Over-Ray wavered and he took a firm stance.What a transparent bluff. Very well, if you want to leave your windpipe wide open, thenA dark purple Over-Ray gushed out with a ZUAA' from Noumi's sword and arms.Just as you wish, I'll pierce it!!Dusk Taker's charge was faster than Haruyuki's eyes could follow. After stepping forward like a blur, he suddenly fired a thrust at Takumu's throat that wasn't a feint this time.Takumuneither avoided it nor protected himself.Instead, he moved forward. He received the point of the sword which hid a certain-kill power in it with his thick left shoulder. A deep hole was dug unto his armor and thin pale sparks flew.GuhA low pain-enduring voice leaked out from under his mask. However, immediately after.ZEAAAAAH!!With a force that shook the air, the Cyan Blade was swung straight down.Noumi dodged to the right in an expected reaction, but he couldn't completely avoid it and received the sword tip through the left side of his chest. Although it was slightly shallow, red-purple sparks still shot out dazzlingly.Tch!As Noumi tried to get some distance away while clicking his tongue, Takumu showered him with even more attacks. Just before the blue blade touched his mask, his purple blade unfortunately blocked it.Like that, the two of them shifted to a battle of locking swords. Sparks flew spewed out like a waterfall from the point their swords crossed, and brightly illuminated their masks.This state of equilibrium lasted only for an instant. Possessing a better physique and physical strength, Cyan Pile pushed his sword forward with a jerk. The Incarnate System had nothing to do with this result. It was purely the power difference between a close range-type and an overall distance balance-type coming out here.Eventually, Dusk Taker faltered as his right knee hit the ground.His blade slipped, and Takumu's Cyan Blade approached Noumi's left shoulder. Due to the huge pressure, a fine crack ran through the white-tiled schoolyard. Their two masks approached each other just short of touching.Suddenly, a certain premonition ran through Haruyuki's mind with a shiver.Taku, dodge!' An instant before he could shout that out.Noumi let out a sharp voice.Demonic Commandeer!!*SUBA!*Along with that sound, a darkness with density was emitted from Dusk Taker's lens-type visor in a whirl.It hit Cyan Pile's mask from the front and, as if it were also some kind of living thing, it invaded inside him while shuddering. The blue avatar's upper body bent back and stopped for an instant.Demonic Commandeer.That was the only inherent special technique that Dusk Taker had. Its effect, which consumed his entire full gauge in order to activate, stole a single ability belonging to the targeted duel avatar, like their special techniques or an Enhanced Armament. The fact that Noumi hadn't used his wings and had instead done a close-quarters battle from the front until now was a trap aiming for this.Cyan Pile did not have a system-like ability3. And even two of his three special techniques were derived from his Enhanced Armament. In other words, in the case that he received the Demonic Commandeer, he would likely have both his Pile Driver and special techniques stolen all together with a probability of 75%.If that happenedthat Cyan Blade, which was reconstructed from his steel stake due to mind power, would also disappear.The momentary still state that covered the field felt like it was forever to Haruyuki.The darkness which should have flowed backwards from Cyan Pile's mask and returned to Dusk TakerDidn't occur.Instead.OOOOH!With a war cry, Takumu swung the sword grasped by his hands down in a straight line.Noumi's left arm was cut off from under the shoulder and scattered into purple light before disappearing. At the same time, his avatar itself was also struck to the ground, bounded violently and rolled backwards by almost 10 meters.As one would expect, he immediately got up and repositioned his blade of nothingness with only his right hand. However, as if displaying the agitation within his heart, the point of his sword trembled minutely.Pointing his brilliantly shining blue blade at Noumi, Cyan Pile spoke.You really are too greedy, whatever the circumstances are.Haruyuki did not grasp the meaning of those words immediately. Although he probably didn't plan on explaining, Takumu continued speaking calmly.I've always thought it was strange. Why you didn't take Lime Bell's healing ability. Even though if you did, you would have all three abilities of flight, firepower and healing, and become an absolute person that could surpass even the kings. The reason for that isAs the eyes within his slits brightened with a PIKA', Takumu declared it.Because your capacity is insufficient. It shouldn't be possible for an overly powerful special technique like stealing the abilities of others to have no restrictions. Your Demonic Commandeer has a maximum limit to the number and general potential of the abilities you steal and retain. Because of that, you lack the capacity to take two rare abilities like flight and healing at once, even if you were to delete all the other powers you have. Isn't that right?Pressing down on the cut-off section of his left arm with his right hand, Dusk Taker remained silent. Right now, Noumi should be tormented by an intense pain that was double what was experienced in the usual duel field. Was it that he couldn't moveor was he feeling so much anger that he forgot about the pain?While carefully pointing his sword at him, Takumu slowly closed the distance between them little by little. His calm voice flowed through the field once again.The person who coached me in mind power said this. That most of Cyan Pile's potential is comprised of this pile driver. You surely estimated that you could always get rid of your current free space as well if you stole my Enhanced Armament, butunfortunately, you judged the value of my pile driver incorrectly.Fufufu, I see.Although Dusk Taker finally let out his usual contemptuous laughter, his voice was tinged with a gloomy and distorted effect, as if reflecting his true feelings.I see. Although I said it before, that stick was made using very painful memories of yours as a resource, right? Thatis a metaphor for a bamboo sword, right? Was it from something painful in the kendo club? Could it be that such a cool senpai like you was bullied in an unsightly manner? Haha, no way! You're not like that pig over there!!Taku, those words are another of Noumi's traps! Don't listen!Even though he was desperately resisting against the jet black vise that was mercilessly pressing hard on him, Haruyuki shouted that out within his mind.Perhaps because of anger produced within Takumu, the light covering his sword wavered slightly. However, he quickly regained control and responded in a calm voice.My own memories don't amount to much. Not when compared to the scars that made Dusk Taker, your avatar appear. The reason you're a plunderer is because you have nothing left inside you. You steal everything because you're an empty hole. You also have probably already realized it. Even if you take away the powers of othersno, their hopes, their friendships and love, the real reason you do that is because you can never have them yourself.Once again, silence.The dark-colored avatar turned down his face deeply beneath the blue moonlight pouring down.Eventually, he rose up while feebly staggering. While pressing down on his left shoulder, he slowly turned his face upward. His entire body minutely trembled, which then quickly changed to intense shaking.Kukuku.What leaked out from behind his spherical visor was thin and creepy laughter.Kuku, fufufuHahaha, ahaAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!His whole body bending far backwards, Dusk Taker let out a burst high-pitched loud laughter.AHAHAHAHAHA!! Nothing inside me!? Empty!? Hahaha, thatthat describes that guy instead!!After laughing for a while, he began to talk like a dam had burst within him.Since you people are clever, you must have already guessed after looking over the graduation album, right? Yes, my Parent is my real three-year-older brother. That guy was the real plunderer. Using his slightly large body and violence, he stole sweats and toys from me during our childhood, and when he got a little bigger he stole my pocket money and New Years' moneyand finally he even stole the only girl I got along with. A completely splendid style of plundering, fufufu.He shook his head left and right two, three times, and laughed as if amazed. His sad and gloomy monologue continued.The first thing that that guy gave to meit was of course Brain Burst. I was foolishly glad and even excited. That's why, just as his first lecture finished, I felt disappointed when he said Earn ten points every week'. But I would go through terrible experiences of real life violence if I refused. I would desperately duel by going to depopulated areas and supply the points I gathered honestly to my brother. I was completely like a dog. Yes, that guy even took my one final thing from me in the process. My pride as a human.No. I don't want to listen.Haruyuki held his breath, and tried to shut out from his consciousness Noumi's words, which brought with them a pain just by listening to them, as if there were some kind of attacking power in the words themselves.I don't want to hear such a story. No, I don't need to hear it.Taku, deliver the finishing blow already. Make it end. We don't need to go along with a story whose veracity is not certain. No, it's surely a lie. A strategy to unsettle us.However, Haruyuki couldn't help but understand.That Noumi's story was the truth. And that Takumu could not cut him down in this situation.Dusk Taker continued speaking to Cyan Pile who had stopped moving.But, even in that kind of situation, I collected points little by little for myself and raised my level. And one day, I finally obtained my first special technique in this avatar that didn't possess any significant power. That was Demonic CommandeerDuring the same time period, I soon after got two other great powers. Namely, the BIC and knowledge of the Incarnate System. My mind power training was harshmy coach told me countless times that it was a waste of time. But, I stuck to my hatred towards my brother as sustenance. Yes, that time finally came at last. The time when I took back everything that that guythat my brother had stolen from me.Kukukuku.That chuckle tinged with the sound of resentment dripped through the field.I called my brother to the Unlimited Neutral Field, and first took his ability. After doing that, I tortured my shocked brother to death with mind power. Since his HP disappeared a little too quickly for my taste, I thought more on how to do it thesecond time. After one hour passed and he revived, I was more skillful in how I killed him. The excitement and pleasure I felt then can't be described in words! The way he cried when his points finally ran out and he lost Brain Burst last of alljust remembering it makes me laugh even nowkuku, fufufu, AHAHAHAHAHA!After grasping his stomach for a while, Noumi raised his head up and shouted.Nothing inside me!? An empty hole!? The one that's like that isn't me, but that guy now!! An ex-Acceleration Ability User that has lost Brain Burst. There is no other existence sadder and more pitiable than that! I'm differentI will obtain everything. Both in Accel World, and the real world. Even the illusions like friendship and bonds that you people believe inThe eyes within his visor glowed strongly.I won't be left behind, but steal and rise up!!Along with that shout, Noumi shook off his right hand with a big swing.On his left shoulder, there was something that shot out from the cut-off section of his arm at a violent speed like black snakes. It was the three tentacles Enhanced Armament that he had equipped when he first dueled with Haruyuki. He must have secretly recited the equip command and had been waiting for it to regenerate.The tentacles that could extend anywhere let out a roar and pounced, but it wasn't towards Cyan Pile who was standing in front of him. Furthermore, it wasn't towards Silver Crow who was squeezed within a vise either.It was towards ChiyuriLime Bell, who had been sinking her body underneath the shadow of the distant school building and had not tried to speak a word until now.WhaAlthough he leaked out a short voice of astonishment, Takumu still reacted and raised his sword up to cut away the tentacles.However, one moment before he could do that.The tentacles, which quickly contracted like rubber, coiled around the leaf-colored avatar and hoisted her beneath his blade.*GISHI*Cyan Pile's whole body jarred, and he stopped his slash. The sword edge slightly touched the brim of Lime Bell's pointy hat, and let out a single spark.The three tentacles instantly coiled around Chiyuri's entire body and mercilessly constricted her.!The delicate avatar bent backwards and leaked out a pained gasp. Added on to that gasp was Noumi's snickering.Fu, fufufu. Did you think I merely called her here just for the role of healing me? No way! I'm already aware that Lime Bell is a weak point of yours. You have to effectively use any thing that can be usedThat is the secret of duels, right!You, bastardAs Takumu's sword edge trembled and he let out that low growl, Chiyuri tried to say something to him. However, the tentacles instantly coiled around her mouth several times over and halted Lime Bell's words.Now then, please throw away that sword and cancel your Enhanced Armament as well.After Noumi gave those cold directions, Takumu responded in a grating voice.Lime Bell isn't participating in our Sudden Death Duel. You can't make her a hostage.Heh? Is that really so?Dusk Taker tilted his head.And casually grasped around Lime Bell's right elbow with his right hand that was trickling with purple wave surge.*GOGIN*.And then a very, very unpleasant sounded resounded. It was the sound of her thin yellow-green arm being cut off from her elbow joint.!!Lime Bell's whole body convulsed and she let out a silent scream. Her back bent backwards as far as it could two, three times. Each time, huge amounts of green sparks gushed out from the cut-off section of her arm.Haruyuki's vision was suddenly dyed a blazing red. An overwhelming fury blew violently through him, and he frantically struggled to escape. However, the black vise didn't so much as shake slightly, as if mocking his anger. On the contrary, the moment the output of his Laser Swords that had been resisting the pressure until now were disturbed due to his anger, they pressed against his shoulders even more strongly.Youbastaaaaaaard!!Instead, the one that shouted was Takumu. There was something which struck against his large avatar's chest with a whack as he took a step forward. It was Lime Bell's arm. After rebounding off him and flying through the air, it became countless polygons and disappeared.You understand now, don't you, senpai? She is Diving into the Unlimited Neutral Field for the first time. In this world where we receive twice as much pain than in the lower order field.He didn't need to say that. Right now, Chiyuri should be feeling pain that was equivalent to having her body's arm cut off in the real world. Perhaps because of how big the shock was, the slender avatar continued convulsing bit by bit.Before the eyes of the frozen Cyan Pile, Noumi raised his right hand again.Also, if I keep doing this, her special technique gauge for healing me will also fill up.Just as he said that, he pierced the tip of his sharp index finger into Chiyuri's flank.Once again, her avatar sprang up greatly. Even from beneath the tentacles coiled several times around her mouth, a thin scream could be clearly heard coming from her.Stab. Again. And thenagain.Just before the fourth hole was stabbed into her.Stop it!!Takumu shouted in a low and broken voice.His whole body trembled. The Over-Ray covering his sword and arms flickered irregularly like a bad contact lighting.Don't do it, Taku', is what Haruyuki wanted to shout out. But he couldn't speak.Please, just stopHe spoke as if moaning. The Cyan Blade fell from his hands and rolled onto the ground with a clear metallic sound.It then immediately dispersed into light. The light flowed through the air and was sucked into his avatar's right arm, before returning to the original pile driver.Takumu murmured the unequip command, and then the Enhanced Armament also disappeared. Immediately after confirming that, Dusk Taker swung his left arm widely and threw away Chiyuri towards a location far away.He no longer paid any more attention the body-bent and pain-enduring Lime Bell.The dark-colored avatar charged straight at Cyan Pile and embedded his right claws into his robust abdomen.*DOBAH*There was a wet set, and his black arm stuck out from Cyan Pile's back.A rapid stream of pale blue sparks came out as he drew his arm back out. Takumu staggered, pressed against his knees to hold himself up from collapsing, and stopped moving while hanging his head.It's because you believe in a lie like bonds.Quietlyas if seriously having pity for Takumu, Noumi's voice resounded.No, it's because you act as if you believe in it, that you lost. If you really had faith in each other, you would have cut me along with her. Am I wrong?You're wrongyou're wrong, you're wrong!!Haruyuki fiercely struggled. As he tried to escape from the vise and go save Takumu, sparks flew out from the joints of his arms in resistance. As he fought against it, he cried out in an unspoken voice.What do you understand!! There's no way you could understand just how much Taku feels for Chiyu!! If he had cut down Chiyu as well there, that wouldn't be faith, but just cold calculation!!But, the black lumps on either side of him coldly applied pressure on him as if trying to crush even his anger.Why can't I move? Why can't I even let out my voice? Right now, if I don't move right now, then what was the point of everything I did until nowSorry, boy.From behind him, Haruyuki heard a quiet whisper. It was the voice of the laminated avatar who had been completely quiet until now.This technique stops your speaking as well as your movement. Therefore, you can't speak nor use any voice commands. I would have liked to at least let you say words of farewell to your friend, butSorry.Hearing those words that sounded like a serious apology, Haruyuki's anger became even more inflamed and raged through the inside of his avatar.*ZUKIN*His back hurt.*ZUKIN, ZUKIN*A lightning-like pain periodically spread out from the middle of his shoulder blades.He felt like he could hear some kind of voice. However, as if it too were being obstructed by the vise, it didn't reach Haruyuki's consciousness.If he couldn't talk, he could only resist with mind powerwith his Laser Swords. He knew that, but his pounding anger disturbed his concentration.In the schoolyard, Dusk Taker raised his right hand while facing Cyan Pile who was on his knees.The wave surge of nothingness once again changed into a thin sword. Making a BYUBYUN' sound, he cut down twice.With a heavy sound, both of Cyan Pile's arms were severed from the joints and fell to the ground. A mass of lightning gushed out from his shoulders like a waterfall.Haruyuki heard a voice,Haru, I'm sorry.I can't fight anymore. I'm truly sorryThe tears that overflowed beneath Haruyuki's mask blurred his vision. Within his distorted screen, he could see Dusk Taker raising his sword high in order to deliver the finishing blow.Here.Is it going to end here? This is the ending of myand also Takumu's Brain Burst?Those thoughts fell down with a plop within his mind.As if that was also a drop at the freezing point of absolute zero, the flames of his anger became frost and dissolved. His limbs suddenly grew cold. The lights on his hands flickered, and vanished. All sensation in his body went far away. The feeling he had experienced several times before, the premonition of the phenomenon where an avatar stops in a standstill.Ah, I see. Zero File4. So this is also an act caused by the Incarnate System. The Minus imagination negates the heat of the heart, and changes an avatar into a cold lump.Even if I noticed such a thing, there's no longer any meaning to it.No, that's not right.If Zero-fication was the Minus mind power that all Burst Linkers could use, the opposite must also be true. An avatar that couldn't move should be able to move through Plus imagination. Even ifhe was in a situation like this where he was trapped in a vise of absolute strength.Like that time once before, where he had spurred himself on with his tattered body while next to that person who had been sleeping on a bed of black thorns, and rose back up once again.With a PO' sound, a small fire was lit in Haruyuki's chest.It wasn't the flame of black anger that he had felt many times until now towards Noumi. It was what could be called will'. The pure power of the heart that Kuroyukihime, Niko, Blood Leopard, and Sky Raker had taught him.The small heat began to melt the ice binding his entire body. The connection to his limbs was restored.A blue radiance that also resembled a hot flameOver-Ray was suddenly released from the thin seems and joints of Silver Crow's mirror-like armor.However, without even being conscious of this light, Haruyuki tightly applied both his palms to the vise on either side of him.GuuhA low voice leaked out from his throat. He mustered all his power, and tried to widen the gap. His avatar creaked and groaned, and sharp pain burst through his elbows and shoulders.Many shrill metallic sounds resounded consecutively. It was the sound of fine cracks running through the armor of his arms. A blue light radiated in thin streaks from within them as well.Uooh!Lumps of pure pain exploded everywhere in his nervous system and dyed his consciousness white. But, Haruyuki continued putting forth his strength. Some of his broken armor tore off and scattered at his feet. His slightly exposed dark grey body was surrounded like flames by a blue aura.Even after this, the absolute hardness and pressure of the black lumps didn't loosen completely. But, Haruyuki believed.Not in his own power.He believed that the power of the people who didn't think of Accel World as just as tool, and the power of the people who had supported and guided him this far would not yield.Ohoh, ooooooh!!At the same time as he yelled, all of his upper body's armor other than his helmet broke and was blown off him.A blue flash condensed, exploded, and dyed the world.Haruyuki felt it. That the restraint of the black vise weakened for just an instant.He kicked off the through with all his power. His shoulders chafed against the surface of the walls, and his HP gauge changed and scattered into sparks. Putting all his energy into running across the distance of a single step that seemed infinite, Haruyuki finally escaped from the restraint.He rolled over the ground. After turning over once, he stood up. While running with the momentum from that, he drew his right hand to his side. He concentrated his mind power.He cried out.Uaaah!!As Dusk Taker's arm stopped while in the middle of trying to cut off Cyan Pile's neck and he turned around to look with a hint of surprise, Haruyuki mustered all of the will power he had left and fired a Laser Sword at him.*SHUKIIIN!*The sword point of light that flew more than 5 meters through the airCut off two of the three tentacles from Noumi's left arm.That was the limit.As all his body's strength faded and his legs got tangled together, Haruyuki collapsed flat to the ground and rolled over face-up.Perhaps because he had mustered the image too strongly, Noumi's voice sounded distant when it reached his flickering consciousness.Oops, please don't startle me, senpai.He paused a little there.Letting your prey slip out from your vise, didn't you slack off a little too much?And then the laminated avatar responded from far away.How cruel, I was going full-out there, you know? You should praise that boy instead, he really is an incredibly tenacious person. Though, it seems he's already reached his limit.And thenHaruyuki watched blankly as thin plates once again stretched up on both sides of his body.He moved his gaze, and in the middle of his vision that had turned upside down, he saw Dusk Taker raise his purple sword high in order to properly finish off Takumu this time.He couldn't think of anything anymore. Haruyuki's soul was exhausted to the point that he couldn't even feel despair.ThenGoodbye, Cyan Pile.The purple blade dropped down through the air.Leaving behind many afterimages in a semi-circular descent, it headed towards the blue avatar's neckJust before Haruyuki tried to close his eyes and cut off his consciousness.*KIN*.A clear sound.Just as it was going to touch Takumu's neck right then, Noumi's sword was severed from its base and disappeared as if dissolving away.Mind power cannot be cut except by mind power.It wasn't by Haruyuki. Furthermore, the laminated avatar that was restraining Haruyuki shouldn't have interfered with Noumi either.In other words, there a new Burst Linker that had arrived on this battlefield.Haruyuki opened his eyes wide, raised his head as if guided by something, and looked up at the night sky in front of him.The magnificent grey palace that stood completely still. In the middle, on top of the spire that had originally been the staircase section of Umesato Middle School.There was a single silhouette, with the enormous blue full moon in the background behind it.Impossible.A sturdy black horse stood there with its long mane fluttering in the wind. Its eyes shined a pale blue, and its four hooves were also wrapped in blue flames.And on its back, a slender rider gallantly straddled it.Black quartz armor that reflected the moonlight bewitchingly. A sharp V-shaped mask. A black lotus-shaped skirt that surrounded a delicate body.Both arms were sharp long swords. Both legs were alsoswords. That clever radiance, that seemed to cut apart even the pouring moonlight.Aah.A quiet voice similar to a sigh fell out from Haruyuki's mouth. And then once again.AahHe felt that, if he said anything more than that, the horse and its rider would become an illusion and vanish.However, the rider bowed her head slightly just now, as if having heard Haruyuki's whispers from where he lay far away on the ground, and lightly kicked the belly of the black horse with her right leg.The horse raised its forelegs high in the air, spurted out blue flames from its nostrils and neighed furiously, and then started running through the air as its hoofs resounded with a DOKA'. As the duel avatars on the ground watched while unable to speak, the ridden horse drew a pale blue trail through the night sky, reached right above the schoolyardAnd there, the rider jumped off nimbly.She spread out her long arms and approached the ground as if gliding. Just before landing, she kicked out one of her legs a little right beneath her.*KIN*A sharp sound resounded, and the avatar alighted down to the white ground on the tip of her right leg.The black horse still in the air then drew an arc through the air, and immediately after starting to dash towards the southwest sky, it disappeared as if dissolving away.After seeing it off, the jet-black avatar gazed straight at Haruyuki. She nodded once again. And then to Cyan Pile who had raised his head. Her gaze also moved in turn to the laminated avatar further way, and to Lime Bell who remained fallen on the ground.And then lastly, she gazed straight at Dusk Taker.Within her reflective mask, both her violet blue eyes made a noise and shone.It, can't be.The one that let out a hoarse voice was Noumi.It can't be. WhyHow, here. How can you be here?That astonishment and question existed similarly in Haruyuki as well. However, an overwhelming and deep emotion which exceeded that filled Haruyuki's chest to the brim, and he was unable to say anything. While he was collapsed there, the black quartz avatar merely gazed at him hard.Noumi groaned again.It can't beDid you return by yourself from Okinawa just for this duel? No, even if you did, you shouldn't have been able to arrive in time. ImpossibleWhy, how can you be here! Black KingBlack Lotus!!Yes, the jet-black avatar couldn't be anyone else besides that person, the Black King who served as the leader of the legion Nega Nebulas and held a seat among the Seven Kings of Pure Color, Black Lotus.However, the one who held that displayed figure, the Umesato Middle School third-year student and student council vice-president, Kuroyukihime, should have been staying in Okinawa, the destination of the current school trip. And also, the time for this duel between Noumi and Haruyuki's group had been decided just a little less than an hour ago in the real world. Even if she knew about the duel through some means, she shouldn't have been able to return to Tokyo from Okinawa and come here in time.As Noumi showered his shouts on her, Kuroyukihime shook her mask coolly, and spoke for the first time.So you're Dusk Taker. It seems like your pride yourself on your ingenuity, butyou're still far too nave. In Accel World, there exists infinite ways of fighting that you could never think of.Though she had a smooth and beautiful voice like silk, those words cut the virtual air into pieces with a sharp edge. Noumi took a half-step back.I did not return to Tokyo, and neither did I need toLet me remind you of one of Brain Burst's basic rules. In the Normal Duel Field, there is a time restriction of 1800 seconds and a movement restriction within an area boundary. However, in the Unlimited Neutral Field, neither of those restrictions applies. That's why it's unlimited. Listen carefully*HYUU*Cutting in front of her with her right hand's sword, Kuroyukihime declared awe-inspiringly.In this world, Okinawa and Tokyo are connected to each other!It seems you've finally realized. That's right,I Dived into this field from Okinawa, and ran all the way to Tokyo. Although it took 15 hours for me to tame that Divine Beast-class Enemy from just now and come all the way to here. Even so, in the real world, it was only just under a minute at the most.Wh, at?As Noumi gasped in astonishment, Haruyuki's own shock also increased.Certainly, during the many times I've visited the Unlimited Neutral field until now, I always thought about how far this world must extend. I never thought of trying confirming it with just a vague question either, but the answer is actually simple. That is, it extends to the limits of the Social Camera Network, which acts as the medium for Accel World. In other words, it extends across all of Japan. From Hokkaido in the north, to Okinawa in the south.But, who on earth would think of traveling across that vast world with their body alone? This wasn't a VR world used for safe sightseeing. It was a place of death where huge Enemies strode about, with just one of them capable of kicking about dozens of Burst Linkers at once.Yes, all except for this one person.Sen, pai.Haruyuki leaked out a blurred whisper. Hot tears spread and spilled out beneath his cracked silver face.Kuroyukihime turned her gazed once again towards Haruyuki, and revealed the hint of a smile for the first time. However, it quickly disappeared and she then turned to look at the master of the vise that was restraining Silver Crowthe laminated avatar.*KIN!*A sharp metallic sound. At the same time, white sparks flashed in the dark night.After the black plates restraining him disappeared, Haruyuki realized a little late what had happened just now.Without moving her avatar at all, Kuroyukihime had fired a long-range attack with mind power just by cladding only her right arm in a faint light. The laminated avatar had similarly intercepted it with mind power. Therefore, the image of the vise that was restraining Haruyuki had been cancelled and vanished.*KIN, KIKIN!!*Three more flashes burst through the air. The visual phenomenon itself was small and meager, but the hugeness of the fired attack's power was displayed as Haruyuki felt the field under his body shake heavily.While gulping down a breath as he felt that power, he felt no surprise that Kuroyukihime, a king, could use incarnate techniques. Because a technique of such terrifying power had already been demonstrated to him by Niko, whose career as a Burst Linker was overwhelmingly shorter than hers despite also being the same Level 9.However, there was something bottomless about the laminated avatar as well, who was directly fighting against that Kuroyukihime's technique.Black Lotus stopped her attack as if she had just finished a greeting, and then asked a short question.What is your name?From a location about 20 meters away from her, the laminated avatar titled its head composed of parallel plates as if puzzled. Just as until now, a quiet voice similar to his elementary teacher's flowed out.There is no meaning in giving my name here. But, a king like you has gone through all the trouble of coming here from far away, after all. It would be rude if I didn't at least give a self-introduction, wouldn't it?Making a HYUHYU' sound, many black plates rose up from the shadows at the avatar's feet, and arranged themselves in the form of his right arm that had been missing until now. That was without a doubt the vise that had been restraining Haruyuki up until now.The avatar placed that right arm over his chest, bended his waist and bowed. Again, his voice resounded.I am the vice-president of the circle5Acceleration Research Societyknown as Black Vise. I look forward to being acquainted with you from now on.Since the moment he had seen that color, Haruyuki had possibly expected it slightly.However, when he actually heard his name, he still felt a huge shock, as expected.Black. Black of Pure Color.It was a color that he had believed and never once doubted until now that it was entitled to only Black Lotus. No, before that, Haruyuki had never once heard of a color name, which all Burst Linkers were given, repeating with more than one person within Accel World.In opposition to Haruyuki who was widening his eyes in astonishment, Kuroyukihime herself did not display any agitation. She just let out a light breath, and spoke.Hmph, so it's not a legion, but a circle. That gives off quite sense of care.I'm sorry, it's what you would call the policy of our club.I can't stand the name as well, of course, butmore than that, what I must really repay you for is how you've been harshly tormenting my legion members. Of course, I'll return it to you twofold.Her bluish-purple eyes let out an intense light. An aura of the same color clad the swords of both her arms.In response, the laminated avatarBlack Vise spread out his arms in a movement that lacked any feeling of tension.How troublesome. The one that mainly wounded your comrades wasn't me but Taker-kun, though. But well, I guess I'm not in a position where I can tell you to overlook itright?One of his leisurely lowered arms became clad in a thin ink-colored aura, and immediately after many of the plates that composed it silently came apart and sank down into the shadows at his feet as if sliding.SeIt's dangerous!' Haruyuki shouted out. However, by then, two plates had already jumped out at Kuroyukihime's feet and stuck her between them on her left and right at a speed that eyes couldn't follow.*GAAN!*The plates crashed into her arms. The thin plates then immediately increased their volume and changed into huge lumps. This was Black Vise's incarnate technique, Static Pressure. Having harshly tasted that fearful pressure which completely stops the movements and voice of the avatar caught in it, Haruyuki forgot the pain going through his own body as well and tried to shout out again. However, before he could do that.*PIKIN*A clear sound resounded.And then blue lines crossed through the two jet-black lumps.Haruyuki watched dumbfounded as the lumps slide apart to the left and right from their middle, and fell onto the ground gravely. Appearing from inside that, Kuroyukihime spoke as if nothing had happened with her arms spread out slightly.Unfortunately, physical restraints aren't effective against me.The cut-apart cuboids returned to being plates and sank down into the ground. Then, the sword of Kuroyukihime's right arm spouted red flames.She drew back her arm casually, and thenVorpal Strike6!!Along with that coldly shouted name technique, she released a violent thrust.The motion bore a strong resemblance to Kuroyukihime's special technique Death By Piercing. However, the range was in a completely different class. A crimson spear sent out from the sword charged at Black Vise standing far away along with a roaring sound accompanied by a metallic resonance.In response, the laminated avatar that was dyed a lusterless black put up his left arm right in front of him as it became clad in a grey aura.Layered Armor7.The plates of his arm came apart with a rattle and each turned into a big square. About ten plates lined up sideways in the space that separated him from Kuroyukihime, and blocked the path of the crimson spear in order to protect the main avatar.*GAAAAAN!!*A dreadful crashing sound roared out, and the world shook.The spear penetrated 90% of the defensive plates that acted as layers, and then stopped there. But, it didn't disappear. While it didn't pierce through the remaining plate, it jarred the surrounding space itself and shone strongly.The two Burst Linkers that both had the name of black fought against each other with their mutual mind power, while standing with their right and left hands respectively stuck out.While in this extreme situation, Kuroyukihime glanced at Haruyukiand ordered him in a voice that was severe, and also gentle.Now then, stand up, Silver Crow. I've restrained this guy. You must defeat your own enemyDusk Taker.A second ago, Haruyuki had thought that he didn't have any power left to fight inside him.However, the words of the king of swords penetrated Haruyuki's chest, as if even that was a kind of mind power, and relit the flames that had disappeared within him.Yes.Although hoarse, he responded in a clear voice.Haruyuki then bent the legs of his battered avatar, hit his fist into the ground, and stood up despite being unsteady. His remaining HP gauge was a little more than 30%.After confirming that, he turned his face towards Dusk Taker who was standing a little further away from him, and Cyan Pile next to him.Takumu, who had been pierced through the belly and had lost both his arms, was still hanging his head deeply as if his consciousness was being obstructed by pain. There were no eye lights within his mask. However, he was still there. He was alive.And then, as if finally awakening from his shock, Dusk Taker slowly raised his right hand and used it to cover his face's visor.Fu, fu, fufu.From between those fingers, a derisive laugh that Haruyuki had heard many times until now thinly leaked out.Fufu. Reallyyou people are so repeatedly disgusting. Just how long do you intend to continue playing make-believe with things like friends' and bonds'? You say you ran here from Okinawa? Fufu, that's an insane sentence, good grief.*BUN*He shook off his hand. A faint wave surge coiled around his claws.But well, this saves me timeis what I should be saying. If I can crush this lifeless doll and the small insect over there, there will be only Black Lotus left. You might call yourself a king, but even you can't fight against the two of us. Rather, this is a unique golden opportunityJust like I did with that guy, I'll challenge and kill you once every hour. Until you lose all your points. Fufu, kukukuku.Haruyuki didn't hear most of those sneering words. His consciousness was only turned to Takumu who was deeply wounded, and Chiyuri who was still lying fallen farther away.The spectacles of Noumi violating those two flashed through his mind's screen. Chiyuri, who had had her arm cut off and screamed. Takumu, who had had his belly gouged and collapsed. What those two had felt wasn't just virtual pain. It was the pain of having their friendship, their love being used and trampled over. The despair of having their most important thing soiled and destroyed.Turning towards Haruyuki who was tightly clenching his fists and whose entire body was shaking, Noumi whispered in a consoling-like tone.But, please don't worry. Because I'll spare only herLime Bell. And it isn't because I can't steal her healing ability like that lifeless doll there triumphantly said. It's because ofChiyuri's loyalty. Her way of dedication is very praiseworthy, after all. I'll treat her with as much love as possible from now on as well, hahahaha.From between his teeth that were clenched to the point of shattering, Haruyuki squeezed out words.Noumi. You're mistaken.About what? Since when?Gazing at that darkness-colored avatar as he titled his head, Haruyuki calmly told him.About everything, since the beginning. When you entered Umesato Middle SchoolIf you had challenged any one of us to a normal duel and said Nice to meet you', that would have been fine. If you had said you wanted to enter our legion, that would have also been fine. If you had done that, you would have gotten the things you really wanted. Friends, friendship, and bonds.In that instant.Dusk Taker suddenly stopped moving. His voice, having underwent a complete change and now low and hoarse, came out from beneath his visor.What, did you say? I? Want friends?That's right. You're the same as me and Taku. You were oppressed, carried scars in your heart, and became a Burst Linker. In Accel World, you must have learned about it through duels. That in this world, there exist the genuine bonds that we wished for. Why weren't you able to believe in that? Why did you depend on a fake power like the BIC? Even though you must have had the opposite of those choices available to you as well.Several seconds of silence passed.Noumi suddenly gushed out a dreadful aura from his entire avatar. Haruyuki understood that it was a wave surge of unbelievable anger, and also that its source was the feelings confined in the depths of his heart.In other words, you're saying something like this?Noumi asked that in a voice that shouldn't be a voice.I forgive you.' I pity you, so I'll become your friend.' I'm deeply compassionate, so I'll hold out my hand to help you.' Is that what you mean?No.Haruyuki immediately shook his head.I have no intention of doing something like that. It's already too late for you and me to ever understand each other. Let's end this, Noumi Seiji.Anger towards Noumi existed in Haruyuki too, of course. However, another feeling that was far stronger than anger became a super-hot blue flame and filled his entire body. It was determination. The resolute will to end everything here. That flame was too hot and burned so steadily, that it felt like it was in a still state instead. Like a star that shined quietly, coldly in the night sky.In response, Noumi let out another short laugh, while still radiating anger like a raging hurricane from his entire body.Fufu. I'm relieved to hear that. Even if I narrowly disposed of your avatar here, I would still never be able to forgive even the pathetic you in the real worldVery well, let's settle things, Arita Haruyuki. There doesn't need to be two flyers in this world.And then, he raised his right hand, clenched his fist, and suddenly pulled it back.Synchronized with that movement, the black wings that had been always folded on his back until now spread out wide with a flap.In response, Haruyuki also raised his right hand high in the air, opened up his palm, and recited.Equip, Gale Thruster.*CHIKA*A sky-blue star flickered in the night sky. It poured down to the ground as two lasers, and collided with Haruyuki's back. It stopped there while shining, acquired form, and finally produced a beautiful Enhanced Armament.Dusk Taker spread his wings further and bent them strongly with a clench.The booster on Silver Crow's back began to make a loud driving sound.The only existing two flight-type duel avatars in Accel World locked gazes for a single instant and stood still.The one that kicked off the ground just slightly before the other was Noumi. He drew back his one remaining tentacle on his left arm like a tail, rang his membrane wings, and rose straight up with a silhouette that was clearly that of a demon.After ascertaining Noumi's trajectory and dropping his waist far down, HaruyukiGo!!Released all of his booster's energy along with a sharp voice.Blue jet exhaust flames burned the white ground. The amazingly powerful propulsion thrust made his small avatar take-off like a snap. He was immediately hot on the heels of the darkness-colored silhouette ahead of him.Noumi glanced down, and flapped just one of his wings strongly. While rapidly swiveling around, he brandished his right hand.CHEEEEEE!!With a shrill yell, his purple wave surge became five long claws, and drew five long arcs through the air with them as the claws approached Haruyuki.Haruyuki also brought together the five fingers of his right hand and shouted.LaserSword!!A sword of white light met and crashed into the purple claws from below.The mixture was instant. The point of the light sword and the tips of the claws were both cut into parts, but both attacks still headed towards their targets like that with their remaining mind power and struck them.A thick straight line cut appeared on Dusk Taker's chest. And five thin cuts were engraved into Silver Crow's chest, and scattered sparks of two colors. While gritting his teeth in sharp pain, Haruyuki continued ascending like that, and then spread out both his hands and went into free-fall when the energy gauge of his booster was emptied.In exchange for possessing overwhelming propulsion thrust, the Enhanced Armament Gale Thruster that he had received from Sky Raker would consume its entire gauge once ignited. Dividing it into several take-offs or hovering by adjusting the propulsive force were also impossible. When he reached the peak of an upward trajectory, the only thing he could do after that was control the direction of the fall with the stabilizer equipped to the booster. And then about ten minutes were needed in order to refill the gauge.But, through the use of Movement Ability Expansion mind power, Haruyuki could perform an override on the system with the thought of I can fly'. Of course, he was nowhere near the level where he could actually fly just by thinking that. But now, when he has the Gale Thruster on his back, the system would shorten the gauge's charging time in order to conform with the interruption caused by his imagination.In other words, though he was still far from mastering the Incarnate System, Haruyuki could fly by combining the two powers of the image of flying that had been ingrained into his body through his experiences until now, and of the Gale Thruster which was a propulsion power prescribed by the system.The problem wasthat it takes about five seconds to activate the mind power for restoring the gauge.And Noumi, who had already seen his mind power charge in their last duel, also knew that.While falling, Haruyuki spread out both his hands wide and firmly visualized the image of flapping wings on his back into the sky.Following Niko's advice, he had considered naming this mind power as well in order to shorten the activation time. However, Haruyuki felt a strong reluctance to giving a technique name to the feeling of wishing for the sky and fixating that image.That was because that wish was something that Haruyuki had continued to hide within the depths of his heart for a long, long time, and was also the core that the avatar Silver Crow had been born from. The only other thing that it could be called was a hope.Therefore, Haruyuki just silently prayed. That I can fly'. That Even if my wings were taken, even if I was hurt so much and made to crawl on the ground so many times, I still aim towards the sky'.That prayer, however, was only a big chance to Noumi.As if I'd let you!!Shouting sharply, Dusk Taker flapped his black wings violently and rushed straight at him.Haruyuki disregarded the ominous flying sound as he mustered all his force of will and completed the image.A clear sky-blue color spread out within his chest. That Over-Ray was released as phantom wings from his back, flowed into the booster attached there, and changed into the fuel known as will'.*SUGA!*An intense shock was produced, and five claws gouged deeply into Haruyuki's chest, intersecting with the cuts from earlier.GuhEven as a great mass of sparks scattered out along with his groan, Haruyuki suddenly opened his eyes wide and grasped the tentacle attached to Dusk Taker's left arm as he tried to fly away.The wings that materialized flight ability, when compared to his booster, certainly had a higher degree of endless freedom and flexibility. However, it still had a weak point. In compensation for its high mobility power, it lacked stability.As his tentacle was pulled back by Haruyuki, Noumi lost his balance and fell halfway into a tailspin. Haruyuki used that momentum as well, swung with all his strength and instantly cut off the tentacle with his light sword. As the centrifugal force piled onto his propulsive power, Dusk Taker was blown away horizontally with violent force.Chiii!Leaking out an angry voice, he violently moved his wings in order to regain balance. But his control didn't return so easily.After facing his body towards him and sucking in a big breathHaruyuki shouted.Flyyyyyyy!!The Gale Thruster responded with an intense combustion noise.Within the night's darkness, Haruyuki became a blue shooting star and rushed upwards. The lights on the ground, the stars in the sky, they all dissolved radially, until only the figure of Dusk Taker was caught distinctly within his field of vision.He drew aside his right hand. He arranged his fingertips.Voicing the technique name was no longer necessary. The pure intention to pierce dwelled in his hand as light, trembling violently.Ooooooh!!Sending out a yell, Haruyuki aimed the core of the radiated light and released the silver radiance.CHEEEAAAH!!Noumi, who had restored his posture just before that, met the attack with his right hand's claws along with a shout.A shrill resonance sound and exploding shock wave roared through the world.The tip of the light sword was held back from five directions by the claws of nothingness and stopped. From the point of contact, intense heat and vibrations were emitted, and as they fought each other in the mutual stance of extending their right arms, their two masks were scorched.Uu, oh, oh!!Haruyuki gushed out all of the energy could from the booster, and tried to break through Noumi's defense. The driving sound on his back increased endlessly. The flames that extended out so far from his back dyed the sky blue.A little more. It will reach if I push back a little bit more. My sword will reach this ultimate enemy. A little furtherjust a little bit further!!Even as he was within that accelerated sensation, he saw the energy gauge in the upper left corner of his vision rapidly decrease.If this gauge was depleted, Noumi wouldn't give Haruyuki the time to charge his mind power again, and would immediately cut him apart with his claws.Before that could happenpierce him!Oooh!!His overheated consciousness burned off his vision in white. However, Haruyuki mustered still more of his imagination and tried to pierce through the barrier before him.The silver light firmly pushed into the nothingness. His gauge was mercilessly consumed.Perhaps because he was concentrating too densely on high attack power, the field itself made a ripple-like effect and swayed. His sword of light pushed through the center of that little by little, little by little.It reached. The point of his sword finally touched the palm of Noumi himselfImmediately before that.The last pixel that lit up his energy gauge vanished.The combustion noise of the booster trembled, and the jet flames flickered intermittently.Dusk Taker gave an insane smile beneath his visor.At that momentCome now, Karasu8-san. Just a little more.'He heard someone's voice, and a white hand was placed on Haruyuki's right arm.Come on, keep at it. It's just a bit further.'A different voice resounded, and someone pushed Haruyuki's shoulder.Uaaaaaa!!Gathering all the power he had left into a single point in his right hand, Haruyuki roared. Although it was only for an instant, huge flames gushed out from the booster whose gauge should have been depleted.It pushed him up with the last of its propulsive power, and then his light sword finally broke through the barrier of nothingness. The five claws scattered into purple light and evaporated.WhatAs if to erase Noumi's gasp just then.*SHUKIIIIIIIN!!*A loud sound resounded, and the sword of light that had had extended far tore apart Dusk Taker's right arm in half, and shattered it into countless fragments.Raaah!!Haruyuki's consciousness was so exhausted that it was a wonder that he could still move. Even so, before falling down from that high altitude, his body moved half-automatically and he pierced using his entire strength the enemy's chest with a left hand thrust.The light of his mind power was so weak that it almost couldn't be seen, but his arm still pierced the darkness-colored avatar along with a heavy feedback, and came out slightly from Dusk Taker's back.Guhguuuh!Noumi groaned as red-purple sparks scattered out from him, and he threw his head back.Just one more blow!!If he received another heavy attack, Dusk Taker's HP gauge would probably be depleted.However, at that moment, Haruyuki would also certainly die as well.That was because he had foolishly recharged his Gale Thruster again, and so he had no more power left to control his descent. His remaining HP was negligible, so if he crashed into the ground from this high altitude, the remainder would vanish all too quickly.But, still, that's fine.If it becomes a draw between us and all the points get awarded to Cyan Pike. If I let Takumu take over my dream. My battle is pointless.Spurring on his consciousness that would likely blow out any moment now, Haruyuki raised his right hand high to strike.The final attack against the black visor of the enemy that had similarly almost fainted nowThe moment he tried to strike,He heard a voice.Citron Call!!The voice that he had heard the most in the world, probably even longer than that of his parents. The voice that he would laugh with, play with, and sometimes fight with, but then quickly reconcileAs if attracted by it, Haruyuki looked at the ground.A pillar of beautiful emerald light rose up from the bright green colored avatar standing quietly in the schoolyard, and enveloped Dusk Taker.The sound of countless bells spread through the night sky.As if it were an angel's blessing, it healed the twilight-colored avatar. His cracked and scorched armor regained its gloss. His lost arms regenerated.A momentary but far too deep despair enveloped Haruyuki.Behind the black spherical visor, red-purple eyes blinked, and then became strongly relit.Ku, kuha, hahaha.A high-pitched laugh.Hahaha! Ahahahahahaha!!At some point extending out his regenerated arms extremely high, Dusk Taker shouted.Look, isn't this truly pure loyalty!? How is itThis, is power! This is how one rules others!! Friendship!? Bonds!? As if I need things like that!! Controlling by robbing!! That is the only absolute power!! HahahaHahahahahahahahaha!!That loud and twisted laughter radiated from him as an aura, and dispatched purple electricity through the air.Now thenit's timeto end this!!From his ten ominously sharp fingers, a wave surge of nothingness extended far out.Just as they tried to cut apart Haruyuki's bodyAt that instant.The phenomenon occurred.*PAH*An intense flash.What was shining was the devil wings extending out from either side of Dusk Taker's back.The wings cracked as if they had changed into ultra-thin glass. With a cracking sound, they crumbled apart.And disappeared.WhaNoumi widened his eyes and gasped.WhyWhy are my wings disappeJust before he finished speaking, the two avatars shook with a GAKUN'. The flying power that had kept the two of them in the air until now was extinguished, and they began to fall while entangled with each other.However, Haruyuki immediately felt something trying to restore him.It was heat. A small heat that dwelled and gasped in both sides of his back and on the points of his shoulder blades.Only Silver Crow's falling speed slowed, and his left hand that had been piercing through Dusk Taker came back out.The twilight avatar fell headlong towards the ground with both his arms spread out in astonishment.In comparison, Haruyuki's fall became even slower, until finally he felt like he was floating and stopped.It wasn't the Gale Thruster. With its gauge completely depleted, the Enhanced Armament was still silent.That's rightthis sensation. This longing so great he wanted to cry, and this exaltation.Ah, ahAt the same time as his voice leaked out, actual tears flowed down from his eyes.The heat that dwelled in his shoulder blades rapidly increased in temperature. The energy swelled, and swirled in search of somewhere to go. As if two bones inside him had awakened the memories of the organ they were equipped with.Guided by something, Haruyuki put up his hands and crossed them in front of his body.He clenched his fists. He put his strength into them.Welcome back. Thank you.Giving that short whisper, he suddenly opened up his arms left and right.*SHARAAAAN!!*A noise more beautiful than any other sound was produced, and spread through the night sky.Even without directly seeing it, Haruyuki knew. That ten metal fins that all reflected the moonlight and shone silver were unfolding out from his back and from either side of his booster.Silver wings. The soaring power that served as the proof of Silver Crow's existence.He had finally returned. To his true form. To Accel World's only flight-type duel avatar that had had been born from the scars in Haruyuki's heart.The instant that firm belief and feeling filled up his chest to the brim, another phenomenon occurred.The gauge of the Gale Thruster, which had fused with his wings, shined as if they were linked together and automatically refilled itself.Fly', is what it felt like it was telling him.Haruyuki nodded, drew back his right hand to his chest, and turned his body downwards.Dusk Taker's silhouette, which was still in the midst of falling, looked small over the center of the white field which spread out endlessly.Although he had lost his wings, his HP gauge itself should have recovered due to the power of Citron Call. His HP might be equivalent to the damage he would take from falling from such a high altitude.But, I'll finish it before that.Haruyuki spread out his silver wings as far as possible.The fins began to vibrate minutely. A nostalgic propulsive power wrapped around his body.At the same time, the Gale Thruster also lit up. It blue flames were reflected by the silver wings, shining beautifully.After firmly holding his breath back along with the energy that was increasing at terrifying rate, Haruyuki shouted.Goooooooo!!A silver aura spread out from his wings. Blue exhaust flames gushed far out.*DOH!!*Shooting through the wall of air in an instant, Haruyuki flew.It was probably a movement speed that no other avatar had attained since the beginning of Accel World. Adding the virtual gravity to the propulsive power of his wings and booster, Haruyuki rushed downwards as a streak of lightning.Even with Haruyuki's accelerated senses, it all happened in an instant.Having changed into an arrow of light with his right hand, clad in a sword of mind power, at the tip, Silver Crow approached the falling Dusk Taker, touched himand pierced through him.*PAH*The twilight-colored avatar disintegrated out in a circle fashion from the center of his body.Running through the mixture point without even touching any of those polygons, Haruyuki controlled his posture with his wings and turned his booster towards below him.The propulsive power offset the momentum of his fall, decelerated it, and finally stopped him.Immediately after, the bottoms of his feet touched the ground.As Haruyuki then knelt down as if collapsing, a slightly late and heavy falling sound reached his ears.He resisted the feeling of fatigue that was suddenly assaulting him, and raised his head.There was the Umesato Middle School schoolyard, near the place where he had taken off from. A black lump was rolling on the ground a little ways away from him.It was Dusk Taker. However, all that was left of him was just his head, his chest, and the short tentacles that were regenerating from his left shoulder. Behind his visor, his eyes were very weak and were flickering irregularly. Even if he had some HP gauge left, it had to be less than 10%.Haruyuki got up in order to drag along his body.After walking one, two steps, he heard a voice.Wh, yWhydid my wings, disappearNoumi groaned that out as if that were more enormous shock than having his body blown away.The one that answered him wasn't Haruyuki.It's becausemy power isn't healing.Turning his face with a start, he saw ChiyuriLime Bell standing there. She was covering her flank that had a hole dug in it with her severed right arm.And Cyan Pile was also standing next to her, still missing both his arms. Furthermore, Black Lotus and Black Vise could also be seen, still facing off against each other. They were standing on guard without any sign of inattention, but it seemed that they had both stopped their mind power attacks.What?Noumi muttered in a hoarse voice.If it isn'thealing ability, then what are you saying it is?After staying silent for a while, Chiyuri replied quietly.I always felt it was strange ever since I became a Burst Linker. Why was I given a power like healing? Butat fifth period on Tuesday, after I healed you for the first time, I realized it when I talked with Haru and Takkun. That time, Haru told me that when I healed you, I didn't just restore your avatar's wounds and HP, but also the mechanism of your right hand. I thought that was odd. That wasn't healing, but repairing. And thenI realized and understood.After sucking in a big breath, the avatar of the color of new green leaves spoke clearly.My power isn't healing. It's the power to turn back time. I can turn back the time of the avatar I use my technique on. That's whyI thought. If I use this power, I can surely take back Haru's wings. I can turn back Dusk Taker's time all the way to before he stole Silver Crow's ability'.So that's, how it was.The instant he thought that, the inside of Haruyuki's chest hurt strongly with a ZUKIN'. Tears built up in his eyes once again.And yet, I doubted Chiyu once. I didn't believe in my childhood friend, who was doing her best for my sake. I'm an idiot. A complete and utter idiot.As Haruyuki hanged his head deeply in shame, a voice of resounding resentment reached his ears from the ground at his feet.Whatyou betrayed me? You betrayed me, Lime Bell?While in a state where he had lost his body and was dying, Noumi shouted out as if his anger gave his power.Me, who made you win so muchme, who gave you such a vast quantity of points, you betrayed me!!You're wrong, I didn't betray you.Chiyuri also responded in a voice that had regained just a little of its usual unyielding spirit.I healed you the first time because you threatened with that video. I obeyed you after that in order to level up my special technique and increase the amount of time I can turn backAnd also to aim for this one chance today. I never once became your comrade!Once again, there was silence for a while.The wrecked body of twilight-colored avatar trembled, and he suddenly gave a low laugh.Fu, fufufu. Good griefevery single one of you people are just idiots. It's disgusting just looking at your faces. I'm going back. I'll distribute all of your real life information and leave the clean-up to someone else. I'll transfer to another school and make my kingdom again there. Now then, what are you doing, Vise? Quickly take me away and let's retreat.The instant he heard that, Haruyuki quickly raised his head and looked over at the laminated avatar who was confronting Black Lotus over there.The jet-black avatar slowly tilted his headAnd spoke quietly.That's a problem. No matter what you might say, doing that is difficult in this situation, Taker-kun.Then put in some effort. If a main force member like me is gone, the Research Society will be troubled too. I may even leak information about the BIC.No, I don't think I have to worry about that. Our BIC has been customized so that, if Brain Burst is lost, it will automatically deactivate the instant it detects that and then soon after dissolve into the cerebrospinal fluids and vanish, so tracing it is impossible. BesidesTaker-kun, you of all people should know. That an ex-Acceleration Ability User cannot interfere in any way with this world anymore.Haruyuki couldn't grasp the meaning of Black Vise's words at all.However, Noumi raised his face with a start, and then glared at the full moon aboveand suddenly shouted.Shit. Shit! Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!He yelled for a while, and scattered out even more words.I won't accept it! I won't allow such a development! Someone, anyone, come here! Save me! If you do, I'll give you points!!I've had enough.The instant Haruyuki thought that, Takumu also looked at Haruyuki and spoke.Let's end it, Haru.Yeah.Nodding, Haruyuki started walking. In order to bring about a conclusion to everything.Dusk Taker shouted out in a high voice the instant he save Silver Crow approaching him.StStop! I know, from now on, I'll supply points to you people! It's not a bad deal! I'll even join your legion if you want!!Haruyuki raised his right hand while walking. A white glow extended out from his straightened fingers.Stop, don't do it, I don't want to lose it! My power! My acceleration!! Don't, don'tdooooooooooooooooon't!!Dusk Taker sprang and turned over his over that consisted of only the top-half, and tried to get away by scratching the ground with his short tentacles.Freezing his heart, Haruyuki held up his sword of light high, andBrandished it without hesitation.*KAH*The air trembled, a thin line of light ran and extended to the white pavement tiles, and caught the crawling Dusk Taker.The twilight-colored avatar was cut in half left and right down his exact center without a sound .And immediately after, a huge red-purple column of flame spurted. Countless ribbons of light was released from the center of the flames into the sky, dissolved in the air and then vanished. All the ribbons were weaved with detailed digital code. It was nothing other than the final disappearance phenomenon of a Burst Linker that Haruyuki had only seen once before.At this moment, the plunderer that had reigned over Umesato Middle School and trampled over Haruyuki and the others with overwhelming power, exited from Accel World forever.The system font that declared the conclusion of the Sudden Death Duel shined red in the vision of Haruyuki, who was standing stock-still. A massive amount of Burst Points was added to his, and it continued with a message that said that rising to Level 5 was now possible.However, neither the joy of victory nor a sense of accomplishment was born in Haruyuki's chest.Only the recognition that everything was over spread quietly through him and filled his entire body.When he dragged along his ragged body and moved several steps over to Chiyuri and Takumu, he heard a resolute voice.Now then.It was the voice of Kuroyukihime, who had been perfectly restraining the mysteriously Burst Linker Black Vise in a mind power battle until now.There are a mountain of things I'd like to ask you, but you probably don't plan on talking. In that case, let's settle this quickly.In response to that, the laminated avatar shook his head slightly.No, I've come to unpleasantly understand the true power of a king in these last few minutes. I can't win at all, so I will be quietly exiting here.It was a quiet voice that showed how he didn't think anything of how his comrade had been completely annihilated before his eyes. Kuroyukihime quickly raised her right hand's sword and whispered in an increasingly-sharp voice.I also don't have the obligation to overlook you saying that. I'll cut you down first, and then slowly consider how to deal with you for the hour until you revive.Scary, scary.Shrugging his shoulders, Black Vise continued speaking in an even more aloof manner.But, my greatest ability is running away, you know. Ah, one more thing before that. I know absolutely nothing concerning you people of the Black Legion. Even though I came here, it was only because I was requested to with a prepayment from Taker-kun. Naturally, I didn't receive any information of your real life information at all from him, and if possible I don't want to ever have anything more to do with you from now on.Too late.Retorting back coldly, Kuroyukihime wrapped a red aura around her right hand's sword and a blue aura around her left hand's sword.Just after she took one step forwardSuddenly, a strange phenomenon occurred.Black Vise gathered the countless thin plates that constituted his entire body and collected them into a single plate in the middle with a PATATATA'.The only thing that existed there now was a single black plateno, it was just a shadow. It looked it just barely had a form from Haruyuki's position, but when it turned to the front, it was hardly possible to see it at all.Then, I bid you farewell.Immediately after hearing that voice, the thin shadow sank as if melting into the shadow of the school building that spread out beneath him. A HYUU' moving sound receded away at a high speed.HAH!!Kuroyukihime swung her wight arm up with a yell.A crimson line ran over the ground, collided with the school building, ran up it, andUah!?Haruyuki let out a voice of astonishment as he watched as the southwest corner of the chalk-like royal palace, which in the real world would have been a corner of the staffroom or principal's office, was cut off and collapsed hugely.Mixed in among the countless smashed white objects, a single small black plate was blown high up and away, pierced the ground further away in the schoolyardand transformed into a single arm and rolled over the ground.But, nothing else happened. The arm also immediately turned into countless polygons, dispersed and vanished.So he got away, huh.Muttering that, Kuroyukihime lowered her sword.After gazing at that far too beautiful, heroic, and also transient form for a while.Haruyuki shouted out a single word and started running.Senpai!!He desperately ran with his avatar whose upper body armor had been blown away and furthermore had countless wounds running through it. Hearing his footsteps, Kuroyukihime turned around.Stopping right in front of her, Haruyuki grasped both his hands tightly.SenpaisenpaiIIHe couldn't say anything more than that.Kuroyukihime gazed at the shining Gale Thruster that was fused with his wings on Haruyuki's back for a while.Her violet-blue eyes blinked, and she nodded her head deeply. She then lifted her right hand's sword, clapped Haruyuki's shoulder with its ridge, and spoke.You really did you best. I'll have a detailed talk with you after I return to Tokyo tomorrow. For now, take a good rest.And then her gaze move to behind Haruyuki's back. There, Cyan Pile and Lime Bell also stood together.You also fought well, Takumu-kun. Thank you for all your efforts today. And alsoKurashima-kun, no, Chiyuri-kun.There, Kuroyukihime did an unexpected action. She suddenly bowed her head to Lime Bell.Truly, thank you. If you hadn't told me about this, I wouldn't have been able to run here.WhaWhat!?Haruyuki and Takumu both cried out at the same time.T-Told youwait, Chiyu, you!? Told Kuroyukihime-senpai!?That's right!Brandishing her left hand's bell, Chiyuri shouted in her usual spirited voice.You guys probably wondered for what purpose I expressly came to see you. It was of course in order wait for you to specify the true duel time and then send it to Kuroyuki9-senpai!Eheehw-wait a minuteWhile sputtering that out, Haruyuki desperately turned the wheels in his already tired brain.Immediately before Diving into the Unlimited Neutral Field, and after sending Noumi the last of the postponement messages, Haruyuki had certainly said it. All right, we'll Dive in one minute.'The instant Chiyuri had heard that, she had pushed the transmit button for a message addressed to Kuroyukihime, which she had maintained in her virtual desktop beforehand. Having received the message in Okinawa, Kuroyukihime had Dived immediately into the Unlimited Neutral Field, captured a flying horse Enemy, and dashed intently towards Tokyo for 15 hoursor so is what must have happened.As Haruyuki and Takumu looked at each other dumbfoundedly, Chiyuri's voice continued showering them.Because I was anxious entrusting things to you obstinate boys, I sent an email to senpai the moment you guys decided to do this duel, and told her about everything that happened until now. Then, I got a reply saying I'll run there through the field, so specify the exact time'. It was really irritating waiting at Haru's house, wondering when you'd finally decide the time!!SoSorryAfter murmuring that, Haruyuki did a big shake of his head onceAnd then first turned towards Kuroyukihime, and bowed his head very, very deeply.Thank you very much, senpai. To have traveled as long as 15 hours to come save usWhen I saw senpai on the roof, I was extremely movedand happy.I think I was tried to show off a little too much there.As Kuroyukihime shrugged her shoulders, Haruyuki responded with a smile while holding back tears.Next, he looked at Chiyuri, and bowed his head once again.Thank you, Chiyuri. If only me and Taku had been here, we would have definitely lost. Trulythank you.His throat was blocked and his voice trembled.Geez.Chiyuri's voice as she responded was also quietly wet. However, his childhood friend continued in a brighter tone.I'll get very anxious from now on if it's only the two of you, soI guess I'll have to join Nega Nebulas as well.Eh.C-Chii-chan.Now ignoring the two boys as they raised their voices, Chiyuri turned around to face Kuroyukihime, and tilted her head as if shy.In response to that, Kuroyukihime also nodded, and then quickly operated her BB console.Chiyuri didn't hesitate at all as she pressed the legion joining' request that was probably displayed in her field of vision.And then, the jet-black and bright green female-type avatars each took a step forwardAnd made their sword and bell bump together with a loud pitch.As Haruyuki merely watched that spectacle silently, a whisper from Takumu standing next to him reached his ears.It seems we were worried about nothing.You got that right. ButI'm glad. I'm so gladreallyHaruyuki also unconsciously extended his arm, and firmly held Cyan Pile's shoulder.While receiving Accel World's blue moonlight, the four Burst Linkers remained standing there like that for a while.However, eventually, Kuroyukihime raised her head, and ordered her subordinates in a refreshed voice.Now thenLet's go back. To the real world.After withdrawing from the Unlimited Neutral Field through Koenji Station's portal, Haruyuki returned to his home's living room in the real world.Although the duel had followed unexpected developments one after another, the total time that had passed wasn't even an hour. In other words, on this side, it had been an event that had lasted a mere three seconds.However, the instant he returned to his real body, Haruyuki felt like so immensely fatigue that he was on the verge of falling prostrate over the table. He endured it, and raised his head.Once he readjusted the focus of his blurred vision, he saw Chiyuri's face there, also blinking her eyes incessantly in the same manner.The two of them locked gazes for just a moment. Just that made something hot well up in his chest and made his eyes nearly wet, so Haruyuki opened his mouth hurriedly.It would have been fine if you told us.Then, next to him, Takumu also spoke while shaking his head slightly.That's right. About getting in touch with masterno, before that, if you have told us that you had joined forces with Noumi for the sake of getting back Haru's wings, we wouldn't have needed to worry like that.As the two boys used a reproachful tone because of their own self-reproach over doubting their childhood friend, Chiyuri made a show of giving a big sigh, and then responded in an amazed voice.Hey, I told you before! I only had once chance to turn back Dusk Taker's time with Citron Call! Even if the chances of it were one in ten thousand, I couldn't afford for Noumi to notice. I didn't think it was possible, but if Noumi had placed something like a bug-tapping application or device on me, he would find out the instant I explained it to you!After the two boys gulped and looked at each other, Haruyuki mumbled dumbfoundedly.Y-You thought that farEven though you're ChiyuWait, what's that supposed to mean!!Shouting and getting up from her chair with a GATA', Chiyuri went around the table in order to jab Haruyuki.But then, she collapsed to the floor as if dizzy, so Haruyuki and Takumu also hurriedly stood up and knelt down in front of Chiyuri.C-Chii-chan, are you okay!?In response to Takumu's question, she nodded her head lightly while still hanging her headAnd then Chiyuri suddenly whispered in a delicately trembling voice.I did my best.*POTA*A single drop of water made a sound on the flooring carpet as it fell down.It was very tough, butI did my best. I really did my best, so*POTAPOTA*The drops that fell one after another shone beautifully like jewels on top of the floor.Haruyuki felt his chest prick, and this time spoke quietly in a voice that was trembling deeply.YeahThank you. Truly, thank you, Chiyu.Heaving one great sob, Chiyuri raised her face that was overflowing with tears and suddenly jumped at their two necks with a GABA'. She strongly drew close Takumu with her left hand and Haruyuki with her right hand, and shouted while pressing all three of their heads together strongly.I love youI love you both!!And then, Haruyuki also firmly held his childhood friend's back as she started sobbing like a child.Unable to hold it back any longer, his own tears flowed out. Takumu also followed as something shined on his cheeks from under his glasses.These three, who had been born in the same year and grew up in the same place, continued shedding their respective tears like that for a long time.ReferencesThe kanji beneath the English phrasing furigana is , literally meaning still heavy pressure.Override is the English term given in furigana, while the kanji is , which translates as overwrite the phenomenon.The kanji below the English word "ability" in furigana is basically just "special ability".The kanji beneath the English pronunciation "Zero File" reads as zero-fication phenomenonCircle: Basically means a 'club', often unofficial/unregistered.The kanji below the English pronunciation Vorpal Strike is , which reads as stealing life attack. Also, note that this is the same name as a one-handed Sword Skill attack in Kawahara Reki's other light novel, Sword Art Online.The kanji below the English pronunciation Layered Armor is , which reads as multi-layered armor.Karasu: Japanese for "crow". What Sky Raker calls Haruyuki.Chiyuri shortens the nickname "Kuroyukihime" to just "Kuroyuki", leaving out the "princess" hime part.